The dangers of black walnut with woodworking
I came across this thread when I was desperately searching for answers and help with my medical issues, as I spent a good portion of the first half of last year screwing around with black walnut that my husband brought home. I’m from the desert, arizona, and had absolutely no clue that there could be toxins in wood that is so beautiful but I should have known better. The toxin is an oil and it gets on everything. So make sure you are gloving up, and if you touch the wood you have to wash your hands. The toxin itself is released from the wood and changed into jugalone when it’s exposed to oxygen so when it’s cut or sanded. It’s pre-jugalone before that but once you start working with it, you expose fresh jugalone and it will degrade and render itself harmless naturally within 6 to 8 weeks, but if you cut the wood again or sand it at all you’re going to release more. Touching it then touching other objects or animals and people can transfer the toxin oil around, even on your clothes. It’s similar to poison ivy in that way.
,Anyway I posted in a thread that has now been archived and got a couple responses, but I wanted to come back and I wanted to thank the one person in general for giving me all the information he did. I don’t remember the name but he said he was a doctor and I wanted to let him know that I spent the last 16 months of my life going to doctor after doctor after doctor. I have been admitted to psych twice, I have been forced into an outpatient drug treatment program once to prove to them that it wasn’t drugs causing this, and I have had everybody that I love abandoned me. It was only last week that I finally got the answers I was looking for. As you know juggalone can cause cell death in human skin. Well, I’m also highly allergic to it and those two combined created a situation in my skin that allowed scar tissue to start for me bit by bit. Scar tissue goes through four phases of healing, and the final phase is where it starts to become rigid and more adhered to the connective tissue underneath. Some people can suffer from scar tissue pain a year or more after having surgery on a site. I have it almost everywhere including the bottoms of my feet, and while there is still a little bits of wood I’m pulling out, majority of what I actually have to get out of my skin to get some type of relief from the nerve compression is actually scar tissue. It’s two widespread to be considered a possibility for surgery of any kind right now, and we’re going to try dermabrasion treatments first. I lost about a year of my life, I was about 2 weeks away from committing suicide, writing my goodbye letters, and calling it a day. Little bits of information and support that I’ve received from the few strangers that reached out to me along the way have been more than just information, they were a lifeline for somebody who was drowning and scared and lost. Please everyone be careful working with black walnut because you just never know. For me all I had to do is get the dust on my skin and it would start doing its dirty work. It actually damages the DNA as well and I have no idea what kind of long-term effects I’m going to suffer or whether I’ll ever have complete relief from the nerve compression that used to completely control my life but I have dug out enough with the scarcity out of my skin in certain places that I have more freedom of movement now and can use my right arm again. It’s the only time my doctor said it was okay for me to pick up my skin well not okay but he said that to be careful and make sure I sterilize everything. Anybody that’s had severe nerve pain and probably understand what this feels like but it’s so way far beyond any pain that I’ve ever experienced in my life, I have sciatica and pinched nerves in my back and this is a thousand times worse and it’s just constant day in and day out. And I’ve been doing this for 16 months with no pain relief or mental support but I made through the worst of it and I finally have the answers. So to the doctor here that responded to the old thread and then closed it down for archives, thank you sir for the information and thank you for just responding. Small kindnesses are the greatest kindnesses because with a large kindness you know you’re going to help somebody and change their life, but with a small kindness, you never really know what impact you have. I am here to tell you that if it wasn’t for you and people like you along the way, I don’t know if I’d still be standing here today ready to fight some more. and people let’s remember nature’s number one rule, if it’s beautiful, it’s probably deadly and you shouldn’t mess with it. Thank you very much.
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So your saying your having a systemic reaction to something over the same timeline that you've been probably getting vaccinated for covid? Just saying......
Agree, there are properties in some types of wood that can cause problems or disease. Walnut is one of my favorite types of wood to work with and I've known about juglong for a long time but I somehow have dodged the bullet. Your story is the most extreme I have heard.
Yes it is. That's why it took me so long to find a doctor that believed me. We still don't know everything but at least we know what's happening now and there are treatments for it. Most notably dermabrasion and Sonic technology to break up the scar tissue and relieve pain. I have talked to everybody from the US forestry service to different college professors of botany that study this toxin and have yet to hear of anyone in their radius that has had such as extreme reaction, although there was a case study in South America of someone who was hit by bits from a wood chipper when he was standing too close and got a bunch of embedded in his back and suffered from the same scar tissue built up in the skin and nerve compression and pain and weakness. I'm just more concerned with getting my life back. In my case it was the severe allergy combined with the damaging effects of the toxin in my skin because of the allergy and because I scar very easily and very badly in general anyway that did it as badly as it had, plus I worked at the wood for several months before I noticed connection between The woodworking and the issues so it had plenty of time to build up and do it's dirty work. I was not vaccinated for covid by the way but it is interesting that you brought that up as nobody else so far has considered that as a factor and to be honest neither had I because obviously I didn't get the vaccination, mostly due to all be insane side effects that have been reported and keep coming out about it. I'm an antisocial person anyway so I'm not too concerned about it and if I do show symptoms, I will quarantine properly. Thanks for your response.
Wow. Sorry to hear what you have been going through. Out of curiosity, do you have nut allergies or anything like that? I've found a few woods I've worked with some woods where I am having a mild allergic reaction (think hay fever type symptoms). Not serious fortunately. I just avoid using those woods.
Walnut shavings will kill a horse if even a relatively small amount is used in its bedding. I'm always amazed that people make cutting boards with it.
I'm not sensitive to it, but anything toxic to another mammal deserves respect. It smells a little bit ominous to me when it's being sawed or planed - a chemical smell.
I have worked with my share of walnut. Thankfully had no problems.
My Grandparents had several walnut trees and nothing grew close to them.
Beautiful and dangerous.
Sorry to hear about what you've been going through. It's one of the hardest things having people not believe you. I've been through some nerve pain and you have my sympathy. Severe allergies can be crazy. Esting a Brazil nut puts me in tbe ER. And so far 2 different south American hardwood cause an allergic reaction on my skin. Face blew up like a balloon working with lacewood and again with Marblewood. Now purple heart is fine and walnut is fine. I'm staying away from south American hardwoods.
After my 40 years in medicine, your story is indeed a “tale of woe!”, in fact, I acquired black walnut boards from a sawyer a few years ago that started their life as trees on a Kentucky horse farm-the trees were cut down after the breeder lost 2 colts that the vet believed resulted from the young horses eating leaves (or small roots or nuts) from the majestic trees growing naturally in their pasture. Walnut trees have developed the ability to suppress competing vegetation through various toxins found in the tree and its parts. We speak of “the art of medicine” and “the science of medicine.” We medical doctors try to understand the science of an illness- how some factor causes or triggers a biological response resulting in a patient’s illness. At times the facts are well established, as for example, the ability of the natural mineral asbestos to directly cause a particular type of lung cancer; but at other times, it is not at all clear. Why did the other 98 colts on the farm not show any evidence of illness when the 2 colts died? Was it the amount of exposure? Was it the small roots, the green husks of the nuts, or the individual unique dna of the colts that died? Was it some other factor or factors? In living systems there are so many known and unknown variables- to the point that we may and frequently never know with complete certainty. Here is where the art of medicine comes in to play-with openness of mind, careful listening to the patient, and one’s thoughtful consideration of the facts. When is the last time your doctor unhurriedly really listened to you? Our modern medicine with the need to record in the computer so many esoteric things related to you such that we receive compensation as dictated by our regulatory boards, has cut the nerve of thoughtful, unhurried, and compassionate care. As a physician, I hate going to the doctor! My doctors are forced to hire “scribes” to record all the trivia, or they keep their backs to me as they peck away on their computers filling in all the required information. How about, no scribes, no computers, rather a well trained and compassionate person listening to you!
Having said all the above, considering the fact that walnut lumber has been with the human race for hundreds of years and is so useful, so beautiful, even elegant ( I think of it as the king or queen of American hardwoods), your response to the wood would have to be on the extreme end of the scale, as you well know.
Many, many natural substances may be toxic to some or all individuals. I only hope that you recover fully and am saddened by your suffering. I hope that you experience compassion from your health care providers, friends, and relatives.
I am a lifelong woodworker, and walnut oil,dust, lumber have been with me and my clan for almost 60 years with no ill effects. But You stay far away from it and heal up. Your tale of woe reminds me to continue using dust protection and being wise as I handle this elegant wood. The king (or queen) of American hardwoods may bite me!
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