Dangers of Purple Heart Wood?

Kevin Sadaj

Member
Messages
144
Location
Michigan
I bought 6.5 BF of purple heart to use to make a jewelry box for my wife. I was casually looking around online for info about the wood AFTER I bought it and stumbled upon this:

“Exposure to the dust, generated by cutting and sanding purpleheart, can cause irritation and nausea, possibly due to the presence of dalbergione (neoflavonoid) compounds in the wood. This also makes purpleheart wood unsuitable to most people for use in jewelry.”

It looks like there is cause for concern when jewelry is made from it but I wonder how this would effect my wife’s jewelry that she places in the box?

Those who have worked with it before, what has been your experience?
 
A lot of South American woods have higher levels of toxicity than what we may be used to in NA. The rosewoods especially are fairly high. As said, use normal caution and finish the wood.
 
Any wood can cause irritation, some more than others and with varying levels of exposure. I have a "jewelry" box made from PH and walnut, felt liner. Never an issue, but everyone is different. Some of the more common allergy woods are anything from the rosewood family and many walnut varities. Of course, YMMV and not everyone is subject to getting everything or anything.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I feel much better about working with this beautiful wood. I've done most of my drawings (by hand of course) and hope to start breaking down the pieces this weekend. I will do my best do document the process with photos and can post them after the holidays.

One other thing!

My son is coming home on leave for Christmas from overseas! So excited. I have a bunch of boxes that I was getting ready to ship off to a boutique for the holiday shopping but decided to keep them for now and let him have "first pick" of the lot. THAT is one of the true joys of woodworking for me.
 
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