Teak/iroco and ventilation?

dubtom

I got some off cuts of Teak a few years ago from a friend and I've been turning some of it recently.Foolishly I don't use breathing protection, I always found those white mouth/nose covers a hindrance. Last night after turning and sanding I felt a little ill when I went to bed, actually I have felt like that before but never put it down to the wood,or the dust from the wood.I need to get myself protection, the trend mask I've seen with the battery powered ventilation looks the biz,is it?or would someone reccomend some other type of mask. I also suspect that my Teak may infact be iroco/oroco, not sure of the spelling, I was warned off using it years ago without protection because it was aparently quite harmfull, how do I tell the difference.

kadman

Hi Dubtom,

You might find helpful information on timber toxicity here,

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis30.pdf

For the best advice on harmful effects of hardwood and softwood timbers, its best to regard the dust of all of them to be harmful to some degree. Its probably easier for you to get a visual description from the internet of teak and iroko , and use the images as a comparison with the timber you are using , as well as considering the characteristics of the piece you are working on.

In short its hard to give you a quick reference tip , in order to differentiate between teak or iroko. Irolo would tend to be more of a lighter colour when freshly worked , but darkens considerably when exposed to sunlight. Its grain would be more even than teak , for the most part.

For all timbers producing dust , its best to use some sort of respirator, especially when sanding and producing fine dust.

In short , safety first, everything else second.

kadman

dubtom

Thanks kadman, that list is quite extensive,didn't realise that so many woods could be bad for you,I've himed and hawed about getting the respirator, I'll get it definatly now.Cheers.