POC Shaft Question....

[Shakes.602]

Does anyone suffer from any Skin Irritation from Working on these Shafts?? I was sanding a 1/2 dozen, 2 Days ago, and My Forearms have been itching ever since. Just wondered if was just Me or if Other Folks had the same Problem??  :confused:

[lpcjon2]

Never had that problem. I found after working with wood my hands do get dry. Maybe you had contact with something prior to the sanding and it took a few days to start to iritate.

[karrow]

not me either

[Shakes.602]

Hmmmmm..... Never had any Problems before.   :confused:    Weird. I have worked with Wood for  YEARS , but not Cedar that I can recall. Wonder if its just Me & Cedar that dont get along. I Dunno.  

[bolong]

No problems here either.

[Bjorn]

Never a problem for me. Sounds like an allergy whether you have had it before or not.

[Rob DiStefano]

cedar, and surely some other hardwoods, render an allergic skin and respiratory reaction to some humans.  another good reason to use douglas fir shafting.   :D

[Huntschool]

This is interesting... POC should not, in general, have an allergic reaction...  Eastern Red, yep and some hardwoods like walnut yep.....

Its likely easy to fix... when ya get done working wash real good with soap and water, then wash with rubbing alcohol, then wash with soap and water again...  By the way... this process works for poison Ivy also just wash with alcohol first and last.

[Shakes.602]

Thanks Y'all for the Info!!     Much Appreciated!!  

[cbCrow]

Shakes, Be careful thats how it started with me about 25 years ago. At that time woodworking was one of my hobbies,so it followed that I'd make my own arrows. It started off with dry itchy skin to sinus infections. Finally had allergy tests done to determine what wood was causing it. Cedar and ash were the culprits. Went to alum and problems went, now shoot poc but have others make them for me as the problems aren't worth it to me.

[NoCams]

Shakes,
My father-in-law was a lifelong carpenter and was covered every day in sawdust, mainly southern pine, fir, hemlock, spruce that all our dimensional lumber is made out of.

As he got older and worked on some large projects with western cedar he had to wear a dust mask and keep his arms washed off frequently during the day to keep from breaking out. He got down the first time so bad he had to take a week off work and go see a doc to get his sinuses cleaned out so he could breathe again. Main problem for him was the amount of exposure, heat, and sweaty skin that caused what cedar dust was around to stick to him like glue.

Wear long sleeves a dust mask and only work a dozen or two at a time and you will be fine bud.

[Don Stokes]

Port Orford cedar has some serious chemical irritants in the heartwood. Those chemicals are what keep the wood from rotting, even after standing dead or lying on the ground for many years. In the shaft manufacturing plant I toured back in the '80's (Acme) they didn't sand them but burnished them instead, because the sawdust causes health problems.