Allergic to walnut????

[mountainman70]

Hello friends,is it possible to be allergic to walnut after 60.?I hope not,but I am having sneezing fits and breathing probs whenever I work with it,even just shaving it with chisels.I have several gun projects started in walnut.I appreciate any info.Thanks,Dave

[Ed Wenger]

Dave, I don't have the problem myself, but I recall more than a few guys getting a similar reaction when working walnut.  I seem to recall they mainly had problems when sanding.  Don't know what can be done, other than wearing a mask, but I don't think your alone. 

      Ed

[mountainman70]

Thanks Ed.Is that shield in your logo AirForce?Sure is pretty.All I got was an old SAC.lol.Thanks all our vets for your service.usaf 71-72

[TMerkley]

I believe it is possible.  I became allergic to Poplar wood when it is green.  I worked in a saw mill when I was sixteen stacking graded lumber.  Poplar was an important hardwood species next to oak and maple.  I did not realize I had become allergic to it until about 5-6 years later when my father and I had cut down some poplar to be turned into lumber for projects. I broke out in hives even on top of my head due to the dust settling in my hair.  Not pleasant. 

[WadePatton]

Walnut has always had a mild toxicity, but now you are sensitive to it.  I wouldn't call that an allergy.  

Minimize exposure-mask and gloves maybe?  And don't work on it for hours on end/days in a row.  Keep exposure times short and interrupted.  

Love the smell myself, but have learned not to sniff it anymore.  'Cept for that big handful of the noodles from ripping a small log with the chainsaw recently...just one little sniff.    

Lots of articles and lists on wood toxicities in the woodworking sites.

[flehto]

Before sanding maple I take an over-the-counter allergy pill. If not taken, I can feel an irritation in my throat and nose. Nothing serious but why endure?.....Fred

[mountainman70]

Yep,Wade,I love the smell too,but aint no mo huffin o th walnuts for this pilgrim.Thanks y'all.Dave

[Acer Saccharum]

Last walnut stock I made(5 yrs of more ago), I found myself noticeably reacting to the dust. Now I find myself reacting to fine maple dust, so I sand it no more. Scrape only. No dust, no sneeze, no headache.

[LehighBrad]

Last year I thought I "bought the farm". A friend of mine gave me a piece of mountain laural that he wanted me to turn down on my lathe into a nice little striker for a friction turkey call. When I was in the process of turning it down to size my throat began to get itchy and I could feel my airway closing up!! By the time I made it up out of my basement to the fresh air outside I was REALLY struggling to breath! After 10 minutes or so, I could feel my throat opening up. Half hour later I was fine. Needless to say....I haven't worked with mountain laural since.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I took wood working classes in college and we were told all dust was bad.  I am working on a walnut stock right now and I always open tha garage door and wear a mask.  I think it just comes off so much finer than others it will get in your nose and tubes quick.    But that does not address the issue of actually being allergic.

Coryjoe

[KLMoors]

Yup, walnut makes me a little wheezy too. A nice piece of red cedar will do it to me too, but not as bad as walnut.

[Long Ears]

I have a friend who makes high end centerfire stocks and has for years. He suddenly developed an allergy to walnut and had to sell out and retire. he was past 60 I believe. Bob

[Mark Elliott]

I have had allergies most of my life, but I grew out of the worst of them around 22.   The only thing that really drives me up the wall these days are dust mites.   When I get their little carcasses on my skin,  it itches like mad.   Maple has never bothered me, but walnut has always agravated my lungs and my skin a bit.   As another guy said, it is a bit toxic.   It is very insect and rot resistant.   Those properties don't make it friendly to other living organisms.   I also have problems with pine and fir.   It is the resins in them that agravate a lot of people.   That said,  a lot of people develop allergies at your age.   

I just minimize my exposure to the stuff that causes me a problem.   I use dust collection with my power tools, I don't sand my wood, and use a lot of edged tools that don't produce a lot of small particles to breath in or stick to my skin.  It is the power tools that cause most of the trouble.    Just only use hand tools and no sandpaper.

   

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I just remembered something.  When I was little I ate my weight in shellfish.  I could not get enough shrimp.  About 13 or 14 years old I ate shrimp and started to look like mick jagger and had trouble breathing. 

When I went to the doctor he shared his story, which was he had been a bee keeper for years and had been stung hundreds of times.  Then one day had a bad reaction to it. 

His theory (which may or may not have been published in the New ENgland Journal of Medicine) was that long term exposure can develop the allergy.  So the same may be true here.

Keep in mind I am not a medical doctor and have never played one on tv.

Coryjoe

[docone]

Walnut is also an anti-helmetic.
Even though you might not have worms, you can still react to it. They use Black Walnut to kill them off.
Who knows?

[Don Tripp]

I always wear a mask when I work with American Black Walnut, at least I have since somebody told me that the dust might carcinogenic. I don't know if it really is but I'm not going to risk it. Never smoked either since I heard that it causes cancer.

[mountainman70]

heck of all this is I bought a plank of south Georgia am black walnut from my former employer,who had it for 20 years,and my buddie Bob and I cut it up and got 4 long rifle stocks and 3 pistol blanks.Now I find  it closes me up to work on it.Even if I just handle the pistol I am working on it bothers me.Whats a mother to do?Time to start riding the Harley,weather permitting.lol.Thanks for the input guys.Dave

[Eric Krewson]

Walnut causes me problems as well. I am building a walnut stocked fowler and have to wear a mask and keep my work close to my dust collector port or I will have a bunch of sinus and lung problems.

I have found washing my sinuses out with saline mist from an aerosol can after I work on my gun keeps me from waking up in the middle of the night all blocked up.

[Hungry Horse]

 If walnut gets to you, don't even consider Myrtle. I cut some Myrtle stocks in my shop and didn't have a spider in there for months. Myrtle is why I started using scrapers instead of sandpaper.

                  Hungry Horse

[Mike New]

Walnut dust causes my hands to break out. I also lay strips of bark where I don't want weeds growing. M. New

[BJH]

Walnut definately bothers me much more than maple. I will NEVER work with myrtle again! It tore me up like poison ivy. Totally miserable stuff. I try to avoid working with soft woods, pine etc. indoors. They tear up my allergies tough. I avoid sandpaper as much as possible building guns. Instead I use scrapers as much as possible. BJH

[WadePatton]

If walnut gets to you, don't even consider Myrtle. I cut some Myrtle stocks in my shop and didn't have a spider in there for months. Myrtle is why I started using scrapers instead of sandpaper.

                  Hungry Horse

if that works for brown recluses then I'm going to buy some myrtle.

also, it's no "allergy".  these are normal toxicities as listed in all the woodworking "toxic woods" lists.  different folks have different levels of resistance and some woods can kill.

scrape on.