I have always like spalted wood for it's look, some of it has amazing figure, as the fungus gets into the early stages of rot, it often does incredible things. That said I always have acted like it's handling poison, and tried NOT to let any of it's dust get near my lungs. I think most people have been like this too.
thats a great article george. i think many are fooled into thinking that just having a dust collector has made us safe. i do have a air filter also but based on what was said, probably still not enough ? personally ive never treated spalted wood any different. basically treat all wood dust as potentially harmful.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
I’d have to imagine the fungus involved in the spalting and the health state of the woodworker both play important, yet different roles in this discussion. Obviously keeping anything foreign out of your lungs is always the best idea.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
The process of spalting stops when the wood is removed from the environment and allowed to dry. If there's a concern wear a mask for particulates. Also there's pretty much zero concern using hand tools and if I using power tools I wear a mask.
I've made a few projects with spalted maple and cut up several logs on my sawmill. I don't know that I try to be more careful, but I'm always trying to be pretty careful when machining and especially sanding it. Less so at the sawmill as the dust isn't terribly fine, kinda chunky at times actually.
I like working with spalted wood. Depending on the use, I take different precautions. If I’m going to be turning it, I’ll often try to stabilize it first, which will kill the critters and encapsulate the spores in the resin. At that point, it’s just like other resin turning. I generally use an N-95 and run the air filter.
If I’m sawing it for flat work, I will often need to mill it before I can stabilize it. Again, an N-95, plus run the air filter. Maybe open the door and window so I get cross ventilation if the wind is blowing stuff out of the shop, rather than in. These are the same precautions I take with the MB (methyl bromide) treated pallet wood from India. But the dust lingers in the shop, so I’m almost certainly unmasking before it’s all clear.
As for stabilizing it, resin is probably best, but non-trivial. Soaking it with BLO works, but takes a while to cure. Shellac cures quicker, but solidifies the wood less, too. Everything’s a trade off.
Dave you sent me a piece of the MB wood. What is your source for that? Some local business? I can't say I ever saw an Indian pallet. A lot of Asian stuff, and a lot of times it was on Mahog, or some other pretty wood. I'm not sure if it was chemically treated, because I never had a direct source to get any of it.
Younger I worked at a Sears store, and on the dock we got a lot of pallets, but taking one would have probably been your job. They used to swap them with incoming truckers, so we always had some in stock, but not too many. Daily we would tear down pallets, and remount goods to go to a department, so they were always in motion.
Do the MB pallets have any warning labels on them?
I like spalted wood, I don't treat it any different than normal wood TBH. Although using hand tools I'm making a lot less dust anyway.
MB pallets were banned over here about 15 years ago, saying that my new kitchen floor just turned up on one. Normally I'd go nowhere near it, but it seems to be made of birch, with some red oak in the top crate, so I suspect I'll end up using it.
Over here the MB pallets just have the normal stamp, with MB where you want to see HT (Heat Treated).
The MB wood I sent you came from India, wrapped around a slab of granite or other stone. Stone Holding Co in Minnesota imports a lot of rock from there, and much of it comes wrapped in that wood. They normally burn it to fuel the heater for their warehouse. So if I want more and am in MN, I just need to swing by with my pickup and start loading it up.
They have the standard label for pallets that MikeB showed above. And Methyl Bromide is nasty stuff at point of use (which is why it’s been banned here) but it breaks down relatively quickly, so its import is still allowed. When processing pallet wood treated with MB, the big thing, as I understand it, is that exposing new surfaces is what might put some MB in the air, so do your ripping and planing with good ventilation. And expose those new surfaces to sunlight, as sunlight breaks down MB.
But for pallet wood, that “Indian cherry” wood is awfully darned pretty stuff.
I probably won’t make a special trip to pick up more, but if we’re back in MN for something else, I might pick up more of it. Then again, the same friend has a brother with a pole barn full of oak, pine and walnut slabs that he’s harvested from his own land, and part of his garage full of “offcuts” from a life of woodworking (he has over a dozen stacks, 4 feet square, by 8 feet high of white oak 4x4s, most just under 2 feet long, for example), so I would probably help clear some of that out first.
Mine came with stone on it as well - I might have to clean up one of the boards I thought was red oak, looks a similar colour to that "Indian Cherry" of yours, the rough sawn looked like red oak, but might warrant a closer look.
Well, I did a rough clean up one of the boards for a closer look. The pallet mark says it's from India, the pale wood looks like sapwood from the same tree. No clue what it is, but looks like it will be used for something other than planters now.
