I am in the process of making some cutting boards. However, I mostly have exotic woods and am concerned about allergic reactions or toxicity. I have researched about a number of the woods, but can’t find anything specific. For example, I know cocobolo dust causes problems for many woodworkers, but once the cutting board is sanded and I coat it with oil, would that still be a concern? I assume it would since every time you cut, a little bit of the wood would be released. Or am I over analyzing this? Can anyone give me some insight? Thanks.
Robin
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Jon Arno always sustained that the only safe wood for food contact was maple, but he also added that the food contact on a cutting board is so limited that the probability of an allergy problem is very low. There are very few toxic woods so once you eliminate those the risk is almost not there.
Personally I use Pear as a first chioce (usually because I have lots of scrap and cut offs in pear). Then,Maple ,Beech , or hornbeam as second choices.
Philip
The substance that causes allergic reactions is protein. There really shouldn't be any problem with using various woods in cutting boards. Last year sometime, I did a search and couldn't find any information that indicated a problem with the various exotics. Woodworkers have been making cutting boards out of exotics for years and years, so I think if caused problems we'd probably hear about it.
As an aside, I used to be very concerned with the use of walnut oil as a finish for cutting boards. Awhile back, though, I found a toy maker who was using walnut oil to finish his toys. I wrote to him, and he contacted an MD at a local university (if I remember correctly). He sent me the letter he received back from the MD, and it was pretty clear that there really was no cause for concern.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
He sent me the letter he received back from the MD, and it was pretty clear that there really was no cause for concern.
Just to be clear, he was very specifically talking about kids with nut allergies putting such items in their mouths, fresh from the shop? Sorry to be picky but a friend of the family can be put in mortal danger if the utensils preparing his food have touched (without thorough cleaning) peanuts -- quite different from walnut oil, to be sure!My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
Yes, I'm quite aware of the danger inherent in peanut allergies and what a truly miniscule amount of that protein can do to someone who is severely allergic. I'll go back through my email (this was early last year sometime) and find the correspondence, and post it directly here.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
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