Mottled skin from ebony dust

[morfa]

Last night I was sanding a saw handle made out of ebony, not with powertools, just with sheets of sandpaper. I noticed afterwards that the dust seems to have gotten ingrained into my hands. With the right hand, that was holding the handle being much worse. So I've now got palms which have a dark brown mottled effect. A couple of good scrubbings with swarfega don't seem to have made much difference to it.

I finished the handle with danish oil, but that's never caused problems in the past. I haven't worn gloves, normally just put a bit onto a cloth and dab it on. Didn't really get any on my hands.

I've not got any pain or irritation, so I'm not that worried. But still. I would go to the doctors, but I rather doubt they'll have ever heard of it and as it's not causing me any pain, they'll just go 'come back if it doesn't go away'.

Has anyone else ever had this? I've googled a bit and a few folk have said they get reactions to exotic woods, so I'm guessing this is what it is?

 

[marcros]

is there any Tannin in Ebony? I did a quick online search but it is all about ebonising oak!

I seem to recall that it makes a very fine dust- could it be trapped in the pores of your skin?

 

[morfa]

It goes make very fine dust that's for sure. I could believe that's what's happened. It's like lots of little dots all over the palms of my skin. I've attached a photo. I guess it'll get expelled by the body naturally.

 

[marcros]

looking forward to seeing the finished handle.

 

[morfa]

I'll post a WIP later on. It was for the workshopheaven saw handle comp. Came out sort of ok, but I wasn't that happy with it. Still, first time I've done anything like it, so it's quite good considering.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

The various species of ebony are generally tannin rich, so iron, water and tannin lead to staining. Your picture with the light staining on your hands doesn't surprise me given your limited exposure to the wood. Imagine what your hands might be like if you worked a lot of oak (also tannin rich) every day for a week or two-- mine end up black. Lemon juice is quite good at shifting the discolouration, though I seldom bother. Slainte.

 

[morfa]

The various species of ebony are generally tannin rich, so iron, water and tannin lead to staining. Your picture with the light staining on your hands doesn't surprise me given your limited exposure to the wood. Imagine what your hands might be like if you worked a lot of oak (also tannin rich) every day for a week or two-- mine end up black. Lemon juice is quite good at shifting the discolouration, though I seldom bother. Slainte.

Ok, so it's tannin then. I'm not that bothered about getting rid of it, just wanted to know what it was. It's never happened before and I wanted to know what it was.

 

[renderer01]

Yep my fingers go black when I turn oak especially if its got a high moisture content. So does the chuck and hss tools.
It doesnt readily wash away and gets me into bother if we are going out, goes itself after a couple of days.

Rend.

 

[morfa]

For the benefit of anyone searching, it's mostly gone today. I scrubbed my hands with swarfega last night, the stuff I have has citrus in it already, so didn't bother with the lemon juice.