Where has your wood been???

[carvingbarn]

This subject came up with a friend that has just started turning wood. He got some scrap lumber from someone he knew that work at a port. He ended up getting sick from it, he will be Ok. I had an issue a few years ago carving with some wood that came out of an old warehouse. My hands broke out. It took a week or so to heal up. The point is that we should be careful about where the wood we plan to work on has been. It turned out they stored a lot of chemicals in that old warehouse. Wood that comes off ships from other countries can often be sprayed with insecticides and other things that are band here. Wood from old barns and factories can be a problem if toxic materials were used there. It is not something that happens often. Once for me in 20+ years. But if you are a new wood worker or carver this is just a heads up. Be alert to what you are working with.

[SeaLeveler]

Thanks for the reminder.
Tony

[Bob De.]

This is really good! I use scrap wood all the time and if it looks treated then I don't use it. With my allergies, I will put more thought into to the wood I use.

[pararaptor]

I made a flute out of kauri wood from New Zealand.
These ancient trees were buried in a peat bog, and are carbon dated to be at least 50,000 years old, that's fifty-thousand-years-old!!
I didn't get a dread disease or plague from having worked with it. In fact, it was a great experience. It smelled somewhat like eucalyptus and was really easy to work.
Still.....something that old....
Greg

[Eddy-Smiles]

Good advice Randy! Needs to be on that list of pointers to new carvers! Especially in view of what we've seen over the past couple of years with products from China. Like you said we have no idea what these off shore countries are using in the production process. In fact, if we did we probably wouldn't be buying half of what we do.