Iroko Dust !!!

[paulm]

Well, I should know better, especially after the amount Chas and others have posted about it.

Last weekend thought I would just have a quick turning session and produced a new "bashable" handle for my LN 1" chisel to substitute for the beautiful cocobolo one that it otherwise uses, for when I want to do some heavier work with it. Can't bring myself to bash that cocobolo too hard it looks too good :lol:

Also turned up a couple of extra benchstops while I was at it and in the mood.

Probably took about 45 mins or so and didn't bother with my powered filter helmet thing as I wasn't really planning a full blown turning session, but did have the big 4" extractor hose close to the workpiece and taking away most of the dust.

Later that evening came down with what I thought was a dose of the flu, all the usual symptoms, runny nose, sore throat, hot and cold chills, aching joints etc. Lasted all week, but last couple of days breathing became very difficult and laboured too, so went to the doc yesterday who thinks it is bronchitis.

Having googled for that, and looking back, I think it was bronchitis triggered by the iroko that I was turning, the symptoms are very flu like and the breathing difficulties would result also, and bronchitis can be triggered by pollution, dust etc as well as the more usual colds or suchlike.

So, a lesson learned, not touching that stuff again without all the filtration I can find, if I touch it at all.

Even a relatively short and limited exposure seems to have got to me, although I have used it before without problem I believe the effect can accumulate over time.

Anyway, just very short of breath and coughing a lot for a while longer while the antibiotics and inhalers hopefully kick in, so will just have to take it easy for a while and let the boss bring me mugs of tea and mince pies which are known to be very good for bronchitis of course :shock: :lol:

But just to add to other people's warnings on the topic, watch out for that iroko stuff, and dust in general, it can be pretty bad for you and with smaller exposures than you might think !!!

Cheers, Paul.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hope you're feeling better soon, Paul.

Cheers :ho2

Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Paul - I never use the stuff unless I'm really pushed, it doesn't affect me as bad as it seems to have caught you. It is nasty stuff and I would imagine that the dust generated in a short turning session would fill your 'shop quite quickly...hope you are feeling better soon.

let the boss bring me mugs of tea and mince pies which are known to be very good for bronchitis of course

...at this time of year, a little tot in the T works even better :ho2 - Rob

 

[Paul.J]

Paul.
Sorry to hear of your problem with Iroko dust,which does seem to be the problem,same sort of symptoms i used to get with the stuff.
But just also to let you know that i,my wife and one of the kisd have really been suffering with the Flu this last week and half.
Just hit me like a ton of bricks and am still coughing,feeling weak,hot n cold and i haven't been near any dust now for well over a week.Worst sort of Flu i've ever had.Perhaps yours is a bit of both.
Paul.J.

 

[TheTiddles]

... and chopping the shavings up with a credit card and snorting lines of it with a rolled £20 note was't too good an idea either I suppose? :lol:

Aidan

 

[Digit]

... and chopping the shavings up with a credit card and snorting lines of it with a rolled £20 note was't too good an idea either I suppose?

If it was they'd tax it! :lol:

 

[newt]

Paul get well soon and take it easy, if it is real flu you must not rush back to work, not good for the ticker.

 

[PowerTool]

Evil stuff,iroko :evil:

Hope you recover soon.

Andrew

 

[Pete Robinson]

Iroko!! Been there, had that, suffered alot as well in the process, yes, bad nasty evil wicked and good all at the same time, it is a great wood, especially for those outdoor projects and will probably out last most of us but only for the fact that the stuff may kill us all first!!!

I suppose its that pleasure pain theory!!

When working with Iroko, I now have to smother all exposed areas of skin with barrier cream and wear full breathing equipment, however, I still get a slight reaction but nothing more than itching and redness of the skin.

BE CAREFUL!!!

 

[Digit]

I served an apprenticeship in wood, and half a century ago little was done about worker safety, and being the shop snotty I always got the task of pushing the timber through the massive great circular saw. How much dust I must have swallowed I don't know.
But 18 months later I was moved on medical grounds with damaged lungs.
Did I learn? Did I hell! I still 'forget' to use a mask on occasion.

 

[chippy1970]

What about Walnut dust anyone know what thats like health wise.

I have been a carpenter/joiner for 20 odd years now and the other week was the first time I had used Walnut. I had to lay a solid Walnut floor and I already have a stinking cold but I just wondered how bad Walnut dust is compared say to MDF.

 

[mack9110000]

I would say MDF is the worst possible dust,from a woodworkers point of view.The very small particles seem to hang in the air so much longer,I always have a cough after installing a laminate floor,where it is the sandwich between two pieces of plastic.No such problems with solid timber,including Iroko,though a few of my colleagues are not so lucky.Don't know if it's relevant,but I seem to remember a thread about walnut shavings being unsuitable for bedding horses.Or should I say horse bedding.

 

[Digit]

Right Chipp! My reference list states, Dermatitis, Nasal Irritation, Nasal Cancer!
But any fine dust can damage lungs of course. One of the less recognized dangers in our past time is allergies, you should be okay shortly, hopefully in time to enjoy Christmas Chipp, but allergies can be a life long hazard.
My recent stay in hospital resulted in much laughter amongst the nursing staff as I'm the only person any of them had ever met who is fatally allergic to, wait for it!
CHOCOLATE! :lol:

 

[CHJ]

There are a few links to specific wood hazards on my wood suppliers list Link but I don't doubt that many others that carry various natural yeasts or moulds are just as irritating to the system, I sometimes am aware of discomfort from handling green wood on the bandsaw and would suspect it is whatever is alive and well on the bark that is causing the reaction.

 

[chippy1970]

Hope your well soon too Chisel (Paul) and thanks Digit I am feeling better today.

I had a job lined up last week had to put that off as I was so ill with this rotten cold gonna have 2 weeks off for xmas, being self employed I have budgeted for that but not having last week off as well :x .

Oh well just means I will have to work harder in 2008 or put my prices up :lol:

 

[Digit]

Ah! Self employment Chipp, that's where you can't live without customers and can't live with 'em.
I always remember one instant, this is Wales remember, when the front door was opened to me by a little old lady. I produced my business card, which she perused carefully then demanded, "are you Church or Chapel?"
On the other hand I've left well filled with home made cakes, eggs, fruit etc.
Customers! I love 'em. (Sometimes!)

 

[Streepips]

In response to Chipp1970 re: walnut and its health implications.

I served an apprenticeship with a company that built furniture which was mainly constructed of mahogany in repro classical style, the larger panels were chipboard cores but everything else was hardwood.
Timber was delivered t a rate of 40 /50 cube a week and went first to the mill, crosscut to rough length then worked its way through the various stages of the machine shop then on to the cabbies, chairmakers, carvers etc.. As an apprentice I had to do my share of the menial work, a lot of which involved work in the sanding room at one point.
No masks in those days, just extraction systems.....
The sanding room was midway between the machine shop and the chairmakers shop and was used by both.
This was way back, days of the 3 day week, dockstrikes, etc. and because of all that was going on there was an inevitable shortage of timber imports, at least the unloading and shipping of the timber.
The firm was an old established one and had a row of about 20 lockup units at the back and one day the boiler man and I were elected ( told ) to go to units "XYZ" and take out the timber stored there and get it round to the machine shop.....This was a darker timber than the mahoganies we worked with, but not to dissimilar in weight texture grain etc, and was to be the substitute stock for the timber we could not get delivered.
Most of this timber was used for chair building and after dimensioning and bandsawing was run round an overhead router on a jig then morticed and tenonned.
Last stage before construction was the sanding, mostly belt, sanding so the curves could be dealt with on the roller end.
The first stack of legs in this timber arrived in the sanding room and some of the chairmakers came in to help me out because the poor stock situation had caused a backlog and they had nothing else to do.
We got stuck in sanding chair legs and rails and after about an hour, one of the lads suddenly turned away and without a word left the room.
Seemed he had a nosebleed. Turned out that was also bleeding from the gums and the whites of his eyes had haemorrhaged as well as blood seeping from the edges of his fingernails
My foreman decided this was unrelated to anything else and told me to carry on, which as a lad, I did.
I had no nosebleeds or anything like but my fingers were "tingly" bit like pins and needles....By evening they were aching as well.

Next morning at work as usual and on with sanding the chair legs again but by 10PM all my fingers were blown up like balloons and were red hot and ached everywhere.
I was taken to hospital, a ring I was wearing had just about vanished under the swollen flesh and was cutting off circulation......
The Doc gave me an injection between each finger, really deep into the "web" and put a band around my forearms.. Held my hands palm up and lanced the pad of each finger and thumb full length and deep, then he quickly squeezed my arms with both his hands from my elbow downwards.
Coils of yellow green pus writhed out of each of my finger ends and one look at that and I fainted.

Woke up and all bandaged, off work for a fortnight.
The substitute timber?
Mansonian walnut, which had been banned by the unions. and thats why it was stored in the sheds at the back...............

 

[Digit]

Ah the good old days eh!
We had a 16ft long timber store when I started, and the timbers, Mahogany, Beech, Lime, etc was often well over that length so was shortened to get it in, so guess who hand sawed 20in wide by 8in thick hardwoods?
One year I was volunteered to do the stock take, why me? Because I had to crawl on my stomach along the varying lengths of timber and measure them. In those days tapes were either 6ft long or 6ft long!
So being a bright spark I crawled in with a large knife tucked into the top of my sock, and after the first 6ft I stabbed the knife into the wood, crawled backwards, made a mark, collected the knife and repeated the excersise till I was out the front of the store.
For safety I returned the knife to my sock just before backing out, as the space was so restricted my trousers had ridden up and the knife was exposed, to be spotted by the MD's secretary.
Next thing I know I'm on the carpet in the MD's office as a hooligan!
Those were the days! :lol:

Roy.

 

[Taffy]

Hi Paul
Like you I have long recognized my sensitivity to fine wood dust particularly Iroko and Sapele - both result in sore nose / bleeding. More seriously I developed cancer of the larynx some eighteen months ago. Following radiotheraphy treatment now on the mend. As I have never smoked, the cancer was thought to have been caused by my exposure to MDF dust. I used a lot a few years ago for my furniture making jigs. I now have all my power equipment connected to a dust extraction system, plus a fine dust filter unit - controlled via a time switch so that I cannot forget to switch it on. Finally good quality face masks. My experience suggests that you cannot be too careful.

 

[Digit]

Best of luck with cancer treatment Taff, know what it's like as I've been though it myself. 8)
The daft thing about wood dust and its effect on the respiratory system is that the effects are extremely well known. 'Carpenters Nose', cancer of the nasal passages, was the first disease to be classed as an occupational disease!
Like you I've got all the gear, including 3M Dustmaster mask, but with a replacement battery costing nearly £100 some time ago, I converted mine to run off the AC mains and fitted sockets all over my new workshop.
Works a treat!