Rob Keeble
Member
- Messages
- 12,633
- Location
- GTA Ontario Canada
Hi All
Well i thought i would post this as a heads up to other newbies like myself. Soem while ago i found a great few pieces of wood at the local garden waste dump.
I sent some to Mac Cameron and he made a pen for me from it, and i also turned a little bowl from it. All excited i got to believe it was Osage Orange. Well the trouble with us all relying on internet pictures was that colors can be misleading when the lighting aint that great and you shoot a pic of your wood or work. Added to that you get the finish changing the raw wood so its pretty hard to be sure on the identification.
Well while over at Exotic Woods last week for the Lie Neilson Hand tool event roadshow, i saw some wood that looked like my "Osage Orange". Turned out when i asked the guys there it was Sumac.
Then to be sure it was not one of these local names i asked if they had any Osage Orange. Sure enough they showed me it as well.
Thats when i realized what i had was Sumac.
So pleased with myself i PM Frank to tell him the news. Now Frank alerts me to the fact that Sumac has species that have toxins in them that cause all sorts of rashes. I cannot identify my species due it being a log and no leaves to go by.
So the moral of the story for all you newbies coming across new wood you aint seen or heard about before is proceed with caution and err on the side of safety until you definitely know for sure what you have. You never know.
My concern is i sent some to Mack and so far he is ok I would have felt awful if he had broken out in something due to the wood i sent him.
Often one lets ones enthusiasm get you carried away before you done your homework.
Thanks Frank for the heads up. I never thought to check on wood toxicity before messing with that wood.
Well i thought i would post this as a heads up to other newbies like myself. Soem while ago i found a great few pieces of wood at the local garden waste dump.
I sent some to Mac Cameron and he made a pen for me from it, and i also turned a little bowl from it. All excited i got to believe it was Osage Orange. Well the trouble with us all relying on internet pictures was that colors can be misleading when the lighting aint that great and you shoot a pic of your wood or work. Added to that you get the finish changing the raw wood so its pretty hard to be sure on the identification.
Well while over at Exotic Woods last week for the Lie Neilson Hand tool event roadshow, i saw some wood that looked like my "Osage Orange". Turned out when i asked the guys there it was Sumac.
Then to be sure it was not one of these local names i asked if they had any Osage Orange. Sure enough they showed me it as well.
Thats when i realized what i had was Sumac.
So pleased with myself i PM Frank to tell him the news. Now Frank alerts me to the fact that Sumac has species that have toxins in them that cause all sorts of rashes. I cannot identify my species due it being a log and no leaves to go by.
So the moral of the story for all you newbies coming across new wood you aint seen or heard about before is proceed with caution and err on the side of safety until you definitely know for sure what you have. You never know.
My concern is i sent some to Mack and so far he is ok I would have felt awful if he had broken out in something due to the wood i sent him.
Often one lets ones enthusiasm get you carried away before you done your homework.
Thanks Frank for the heads up. I never thought to check on wood toxicity before messing with that wood.