Re MDF

[Danny]

Gee That explains it all now....  I was in country for a year starting directly after the Tet Offensive 1968.  And Yep I consumed plenty of local beer.  LOL 
                        Danny  :+}

[rob roy]

Hi Danny, you should be well preserved with all that formadehyde you were drinking in Nam lol.
Rob Roy.

[Danny]

Hey Rob....  Since we are yacking bout Nam....I just wonder how many of US here in this Forum have experiences of being their?  I have a story or two to tell.
                                             Later....  Danny  :+}

[rob roy]

Hi Danny, I,m sure there are many folks on the forum here who could keep us going for years with stories about it. I'm sure there are also lots of folks would like to hear them, me included. Being in Scotland we didn't hear too much about Nam.
Rob Roy.

[termite]

never got to socialize with the locals very much. when we had any brew it was usually rusty cans
of black label & it was usually warm or hot if you remember the heat. never drank another black
label after i returned to the world.   termite

[malc]

My retirement job is for B&Q where I get to play with their fantastic timber saw and we take cutting mdf VERY SERIOUSLY! we are issued with masks.
Malc

[normcat]

I agree you need to take cutting mdf seriously and use a dust mask at all times. My previous comment was about the dangers of formaldyde which is also not nice but not as big a danger as the dust. If using mdf I would always recommend using MR MDF as it is a much better product and according to HSE may not contain any formaldyde. I don't think B&Q sell MR MDF.

[J,Hamilton]

Like I said before on other posts. MDF is no more dangerous than other woods we use on a daily basis. Dust from all woods are hazardous to some degree. Some dust particles in commonly used wood is just as dangerous as the formaldahide of the MDF. All timber species are bonded by glues of various types which differ for the region of growth. These glues bond the tubular cells of the wood to one another allowing for timber to gain strength and height. The glue needs to be broken down in order to have any other product other than lumber. This glue is also neurtalized to reduce or eliminate the toxicity for certain products we use every day. Vanillin for one is a product made from certain of these broken down glues as a cheap form of vanilla which is non toxic. Tannin is a chemical that is produced naturally in many species and is used in the process of tanning leather. Tannin is a toxic chemical in quantities to humans as well as many forms of wildlife.

The problem here is not the material used for cutting. The problem is the dust generated by the materials. That is why dust is the number one problem to our hobby. Many of our favorite species are hazardous to us in the dust, some even cancer causing. So to say MDF is the devils product is just wrong. Oak, redweood, and sassafrass are among of the common wood types that are known for thier dust to cause cancer of the airways and lungs.

Every product out there has a purpose. It is the responsibility of the user to understand that said purpose and take all necessary precautions before use. 

[Gabby]

I think it would be a good idea to post a list of known poisonous / toxic wood commonly used in our craft. Does anyone have such a list readily available they could post in this forum?
Maybe Russ or Steve could pin it to the top as a reference.

Just a point many people are unaware that Oleander, is deadly, I know it's not a wood we are likely to use, but I just have to give a heads up to those folks that live where it is often used as a hedge, in the more temperate climates such as Southern California.
Every part of it is poisonous including the pollen, sap and even the smoke if you are burning it as in a leaf pile. About 5 dried leaves will kill a full grown horse. It used to be known as Assassins Tea. It brings about a massive heart attack, usually fatal.

My Dad and I were working between a long building and a 10 or 15 foot tall  hedge of the stuff one summer in Tempe, AZ in the summer time, it was in full bloom, and my Dad got really dizzy and short of breath, so we got the heck out of there, and it took about an hour for him to feel back to normal. We did research of the stuff and found that the water in a bucket that you were rooting sticks in was poisonous and had to be changed regularly or the roots wouldn't form. There was an article about a family having a picnic in their back yard, the husband cut sticks to roast hotdogs, and marshmallows on, and his wife found they were short a stick. She cut one from an Oleander bush and as luck would have it her husband used it and died.
 Nothing to play with!
Gabby

[J,Hamilton]

I'm trying to get permission to use the info from our secure servers at my workplace. Many agricultural colleges with a strong forestry program and engineering departments have wonderful wood science programs that display this info. Sometimes getting permission to distribute it can be a bear, although, the info is out for those that want to spend the time to compile it.

Gabby, you are correct that some woods have more than one way of causing problems for us in the woodworking field and hobby. Some species are from the bark, others from the sap. But most will cause some sort of porblems from the dust. All things have hazards associated with them. We either ignore them or we abate them. I would choose to abate the hazard because I love molding raw materials into something of beauty.

All I have to say is know and fully understand the materials you work with before you begin to avoid these issues as much as possible.

[Gabby]

I've got to laugh. 
Jh use your spell checker or proof read your post. LOL
Gabby

[Russ C]

It is in a PDF form like Steve's patterns. 

[beginner]

Thanks for digging up the list Russ

[Gabby]

I see it lists Oleander and the rose woods as the only ones with the 4 plus marks making them the worst. So that bears out what I was talking about. They don't list the pollen on any of them which isn't surprising. Most folks aren't going to be in a situation where they would encounter high concentrations.

It's nice to see my memory is still serving me pretty well. There are days though. LOL
Gabby

[stipes]

I just wanted to add to this if anyone else mills their own wood, but what always scared me was having a log down and got mold all over it. My friend in eastern Ky. spent a month in the UK hospital from mold 2 years ago, just about killed him. He was cutting firewood....