Black Locust allergy??

[DC]

I've been chasing a ring on a couple of BL billets over the last couple of days. I also have had a nagging cough for a couple of days. Coincidence or allergy?? Anyone else get this?

[shofu]

I haven't worked with it much but have heard bad things about dust from Yew, BL and eveN yellow cedar. In the wood working community I am from, there is a school of thought that so called 'white woods' are prefential to work with for this reason.
I wear a mask now with any irritant woods with lots of dust
G

[Eric Krewson]

I haven't worked with BL but have ever increasing problems with osage and walnut dust. These sensitivities developed over the last 6 or 7 years of my 20 years working with these woods.

I wear a painter's cartridge respirator mask now when I make bows osage bows, hickory doesn't bother me.

Stop working on your bows for a few days to see if your symptoms clear up then resume your work and you will know if it is the wood dust if your symptoms come back.

[Pat B]

I don't have an allergy to BL but it has an allergy to me. Symptoms...fretting. 

[George Tsoukalas]

I've worked BL a lot and never had a problem.
But that does not mean you do not.
See what happens; wear a high quality mask.

Jawge

[chamookman]

I found BL to bother Me a bit too, but Folks - We ALL should wear at least a mask, if not a resperator dealing with all the Saw dust We deal with ! I'm sure I sucked down pounds of Osage dust at the Band Saw and have been told that contributed to the COPD/Emphysema I have to deal with now I'm Older. Do Your Self a favor - protect Your Lungs ! Bob

[Hrothgar]

Good advice Bob, time and exposure take a toll.

[dane lund]

I don't have any problem with breathing the dust,  but a couple of hours working with Osage....... hives and lots of itching.
If you look up Osage on the wood toxicity chart, it's not only an irritant to skin and lungs,  it's also a sensitizer.  Which means it gets worse with each exposure.
Damn, the best wood I've worked with is gonna kill me.
Oh well, winter time project, when I can wear long sleeves and pants, as well as a respirator.

[EdwardS]

Osage gets me too-the first time I worked it I passed out and was insensible to the next day, not to mention hives and throat swelling.

As to the respirator, I'm 35 and have a restrictive lung disease and barely any lung capacity because in part I didn't wear one and worked bone and amber.  Can't undo it, can only wear one from here on out.