Jelutong and agent orange?

[K Karver]

Had a carving meeting at my house tonight and one of the carvers mentioned he had a piece of jelutong. He had heard that is was great for power carving as long as you dealt with the dust. Reason to be careful was given as an agent orange problem left over from the Vietnam war. His source for the piece he had said his piece came out of Nam before agent orange, but newer stuff is a problem. What do you know about the connection?

John K Karver

[aulddiy]

Interesting John. But is Vietnam the only source of jelutong ? I recently got a block of it to try power carving. While its alright I prefer limewood. Mainly because of the price difference. Do n't know where it was grown but it had almost the feel of balsa, and a bit hairy.

[susieq]

I was told that jelutong comes from the Malaysian rubber tree plantations. When the rubber trees quit producing, they are cut and sold for lumber...and new trees planted. I can honestly say I have never heard of agent orange concerns before. Also, agent orange was a defoliation chemical. Anything that was sprayed with that, would have been dead and gone 30 years ago. I have my doubts about the agent orange concerns but would like to hear more.

You can also gouge, chisel and knife carve jelutong. I have done it both ways. The main thing is to not get going against the grain with j-tong as it splinters a lot worse than other woods will in that situation.

As for the dust, anyone who power carves should be fully protected by a good face mask and a dust collector. All wood dust is very dangerous. Some more so than others but there is no safe wood dust.

[Keoma]

Here is my thoughts.
I am an herbalist and a wildcrafter. This means I harvest my herbs and plants from it's natural setting and habitat. I gather my herbs from clean areas. This is just a no brainer rule of thumb. A lot of herbs I need are on the side of the road. But you will never see me picking there. The run off from the highway is enough to make anyone sick and you can bet your bottom dollar that the plants growing there have absorbed it.
So, I am thinking that even if the Chemical crap was sprayed 30 some years ago, its traces have remained and probably have been absorbed by anything lucky enough to have grown there again.
Susie is right, there is no safe dust and all should be treated as dangerous invading fugitives. I don't want any of it in my lungs.
There are toxic woods, but then the chemical growth factor should also be taken into account. Who knows where your wood comes from? When you buy it, I would ask. It would not hurt to know. I know where mine comes from
Great Thread. Thanx for posting John. Food for thought is always good food!

[susieq]

Google is our friend.... I was clicking around on the computer, trying to verify what I had been told about jelutong some years ago. I found this article on it. It does not list Vietnam as one of the places this tree grows, at least not that I read. So here is the link to the article. I think you don't need to be concerned about agent orange and jelutong any longer. When the page comes up, click on jelutong tree.....


Jelutong (tree - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

[K Karver]

Thanks susieq.

[Keoma]

thanx susie!

[chuckbolton]

the thing to find out is the half life of agent orange. but i wouldnt be concerned after 30 yrs in a country of high rainfall-- and like it was said before-- it is a defoliant. few chemicals will not breakdown in highrainfall acid environments