Reaction to Pau Ferro

[shortcast]

Hey, anyone ever had a reaction to Pau Ferro (murado, bolivian rosewood)?

My hands are swollen. I have raised welts that itch and burn from my elbows to my finger tips. Very uncomfortable but not generally painful. Except for a 15 minute episode yesterday afternoon when my hands felt like they were on fire. A long soak in scalding hot water seemed to help this.

Saturday I turned about six bracelets and one pen from this stock. Now I wonder are these items safe for me to give to someone? I know that pau ferro is used in luthery and I have seen pau ferro firearm grips on the market, so I hope that it is only the dust that is a problem.

Can I take any precautions to prevent another reaction like this or am I through with this species of wood?

Any remedies that you can recomend?

 

[bitshird]

Usually if you are having a reaction to one wood of a specie, you might have reactions to other members, and since Pau Ferro is a Dalbergia,(rosewood) but as I remember it it's rather oily, Watch out for Cocobolo, , other than covering exposed skin there isn't much else you can do, most likely it is the dust that got you. For safety make sure and wear a mask when you turn.

 

[Texatdurango]

Hey, anyone ever had a reaction to Pau Ferro (murado, bolivian rosewood)?

Yes, that and cocobolo make be break out in blisters just as if I got into some poison ivy.

Can I take any precautions to prevent another reaction like this or am I through with this species of wood?

Yes there is, see below

Any remedies that you can recomend?

I used some gel that I had on hand for poison ivy and it worked but as with poison ivy it has to go through it's course and it takes several days.[/quote]

Don't waste time with precautions such as long sleeves, dust masks, etc. You have no idea where the dust is in your shop, under and around all of your saws, drills, lathe, it is everywhere and you don't even have to be working directly with it to get another reaction, you can simply be doing something that stirs the fine dust up and it starts all over again so there is a very simple precaution you can take and it is 100% effective, GET THE WOOD OUT OF YOUR SHOP! It's not like pau ferro and cocobolo and a few of the rosewoods are that drop dead beautiful anyway, there are far nicer woods to peacefully turn.

 

[Russianwolf]

Pau Ferro isn't a Dalbergia. It's not in the rosewood family at all. Its one of the substitute woods that some use in place of the more expensive rosewoods.

 

[TellicoTurning]

Hey, anyone ever had a reaction to Pau Ferro (murado, bolivian rosewood)?

My hands are swollen. I have raised welts that itch and burn from my elbows to my finger tips. Very uncomfortable but not generally painful. Except for a 15 minute episode yesterday afternoon when my hands felt like they were on fire. A long soak in scalding hot water seemed to help this.

Saturday I turned about six bracelets and one pen from this stock. Now I wonder are these items safe for me to give to someone? I know that pau ferro is used in luthery and I have seen pau ferro firearm grips on the market, so I hope that it is only the dust that is a problem.

Can I take any precautions to prevent another reaction like this or am I through with this species of wood?

Any remedies that you can recomend?

Best precaution you can take is prevention... make sure you have your arms and hands covered when you turn.... I have to use a long sleeve smock to turn some of the woods I turn... it keeps the dust and chips off your body... but if you shop is like mine and not air conditioned/cooled it gets darned hot in that smock... it's a trade off, sweat or break out. I've chosen to sweat.

For your hands, you may have to go to nitile gloves... again sweat or break out. I don't have problem with the hands (yet) and I always turn with a golf glove on my left hand... the hand gets sore from the constant bombardment of the chips against the side and back of it. I started using a leather glove with the fingers cut out, but I've worn it out and switched to the golf glove because it fits tighter and is padded on the palm. (also because it was available without having to buy another pair of leather gloves(I tend to be cheap)... my son left it when he sold his clubs and gave up golf.

 

[arioux]

For your info, read the allergic information part

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pau_ferro

The best advice came from Georges. Get this stuff out of your shop and forget about it. That's what i did. Don't wait until a kid get in your shop and suffer from it. DAMHIKT

 

[ghostrider]

Usually if you are having a reaction to one wood of a specie, you might have reactions to other members, and since Pau Ferro is a Dalbergia,(rosewood) but as I remember it it's rather oily, Watch out for Cocobolo, , other than covering exposed skin there isn't much else you can do, most likely it is the dust that got you. For safety make sure and wear a mask when you turn.

Like RUSSIANWILF said, itis not a true rosewood.

I had a similar experience last year when I used it for a straight razor restoration. I was fine working with it for a couple days until one day I had an itch while I was working it. After that, I broke out in a rash in several areas (including my face) that lasted about a month before it completely cleared up.

Now I'm just careful to make sure I shower immediately after working it, and don't scratch.

Last month I was turning some pens from it. The first pen went fine, but I must have scratched something on the second one because that rash started to show up on my arm. I put some creme on it and took some benadryl, and it cleared up over night.

I just have to be careful around it and I'm fine. I looked up solutions and the only options were: Don't use it; Barrier cremes, Keep the skin covered/protected. Of course I was using a respirator anyway, so I don't know what kind of effect that will have.

I have no problem touching (even rubbing) it, but if I break the skin when it's close...

 

[edman2]

I had the same reaction to granadilla. Rash, blisters, etc. I removed all the wood from my shop. But for several days I would break out in minor rash just being around the lathe. Took me a few days to get rid of the dust. Nurse friend said "the next time it will be worse." So, I have tried to make sure there is not a next time.

 

[Texatdurango]

I had the same reaction to granadilla. Rash, blisters, etc. I removed all the wood from my shop. But for several days I would break out in minor rash just being around the lathe. Took me a few days to get rid of the dust. Nurse friend said "the next time it will be worse." So, I have tried to make sure there is not a next time.

I broke out in a bad rash of blisters and it had been weeks and weeks since I bagged up the pau ferro and cocobolo and gave it away. A little searching revealed a pile of dust inside my table saw that the dust collecter missed. One day I was cutting up a lot of wafer thin pieces of the wood for use in celtic knot designs and it added to the pile of dust and evidentally every time I would fire up the table saw after then the dust inside would swirl around and get into the shop air. Wasn't much, and I didn't see a thing.

So, it's not always what you see that gets you, just like burning a harmless pile of brush on a warm humid day, with some poison ivy clinging to some of the limbs. The oil can be carried by the smoke and if you walk through it or sit in the smoke path, you're infected with it.

 

[nava1uni]

If you have had a reaction you should avoid any wood that causes it. Each exposure causes your body to become more sensitive until you could have an anaphalatic reaction and that could be deadly. No wood is worth that cost.