# Walnut Dust Hazard?



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f15/walnut-allergy-help-asap-35087/

Mastershand posted above about his son having a severe allergic reaction after contacting the Walnut dust on his clothing worn in from the shop. Scary! 

How many here have had similar reactions... especially breathing difficulties, sore throats, coughing up .... water eyes? 
*
What** extra precautions** if any, *do you take to prevent breathing the dust, besides normal DC, room air filtration and respirators?

Emptying shop vacs, and cleaning the pleated filters and dust bags and barrels especially, would be maximum dust exposure in my view. I know I empty mine outside, but just *removing* the containers lets a lot of dust into the shop. I have used 2 DC's simultaneously when emptying one. Same with the shop vac, but somewhat less of a problem.

I haven't worked with Walnut for quite some time, but I have a small stack and would like to get back into working with it. It's a great wood, beautiful color and grain and easy to work as I recall.

Anyone?  bill


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

I'm very lucky in that regard. Only wood that even remotely bothers me is cedar, and then only if I'm making lots of dust. No dust collection in my shop, but I do have an overhead air filter and I wear a Trend airshield when turning or doing lots of sanding.


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## dat (Nov 11, 2010)

walnut does make my eyes itch, nose get stuffy and scratchy throught for a few days, I wear one of these when sanding or cutting http://www.themanstoreonline.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/3m%2051p71%20respirator.jpg sure made a difference for me


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

All wood dust is classified as hazardous and known to cause cancer in humans. If you worked in the industry, you would have an MSDS and training in reading it and taking the required precautions. Some people are very sensitive to certain species and immediately have respiratory problems with minimal exposure. Rosewood is particularly known to have these effects on many folks. If a person does have a severe reaction, they want to avoid that dust, period. In one shop I worked in, we tried to use obeeche as a cheap secondary wood. Half the shop would have to leave when that was milled and we stopped using it right away. People with nut allergies may have a reaction to nut woods. My grandson is allergic to peanuts, we have to have an EpiPen always available. The slightest exposure will swell up his face and lips and shut down his respiratory system, quite serious. 

Most of us aren't bothered by sawdust exposure but anyone working with it over the longterm needs to know it can be a carcinogen. If you are creating air borne dust, you should wear a respirator, not just a dust mask. Family members can be exposed by dust on your clothing, just as mesothelioma effected people that didn't work with asbestos themselves. A few Tyvek suits can be handy around the shop when finishing or dealing with a lot of dust. Half the goobers that end up your varnish fall off your clothes and hair.


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## tgwoodworks (Jan 6, 2012)

I work with walnut on occasion and have had a few problems but not with people. I have a local farm that takes all my full dc bags to use as bedding. A few years back the farmer had lost a horse due to a respratory illness. Come to find out the walnut dust is very dangerous to horses. Now anytime I work with walnut I segregate it and purge the dc system after use. I also had an experience where I dumped my sawdust in a field. I had about 8 55 gal bags full of mixed dust that included walnut. It was quite a pile after dumping it all out so I decided to till it in and spread it out a little to let mother nature do her magic. After about a year I noticed there was nothing growing where all the dust had been dumped so I just figured it had packed down and was acting like a mulch. So I tilled it all up again and threw some fresh grass seed down. The grass started to come in and I didn't really pay much more attention to it. Later that year the 2 trees growing in close proximity to where the dust was dumped died and the grass was all dead. I now take anything with walnut dust to the dump. It has been 2 full summers since the dust was dumped in the field and as of this fall it is still a barren area. I am going to try to plant some grass again this spring. There weren't even weeds growing there though. We walnut trees all over up here and grass doesn't grow under any of them. Makes a guy wonder.


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

Travis, 
That's good to know.
I plan on using a bunch of walnut in the near future and I have some areas of graveled drive where I'd like to prevent next spring's crop of weeds.
As to horses, riders around here tell me it also causes a hoof infection and often a rash if they lay in it.
It causes me to sneeze, but I love the smell.



tgwoodworks said:


> I work with walnut on occasion and have had a few problems but not with people. I have a local farm that takes all my full dc bags to use as bedding. A few years back the farmer had lost a horse due to a respratory illness. Come to find out the walnut dust is very dangerous to horses. Now anytime I work with walnut I segregate it and purge the dc system after use. I also had an experience where I dumped my sawdust in a field. I had about 8 55 gal bags full of mixed dust that included walnut. It was quite a pile after dumping it all out so I decided to till it in and spread it out a little to let mother nature do her magic. After about a year I noticed there was nothing growing where all the dust had been dumped so I just figured it had packed down and was acting like a mulch. So I tilled it all up again and threw some fresh grass seed down. The grass started to come in and I didn't really pay much more attention to it. Later that year the 2 trees growing in close proximity to where the dust was dumped died and the grass was all dead. I now take anything with walnut dust to the dump. It has been 2 full summers since the dust was dumped in the field and as of this fall it is still a barren area. I am going to try to plant some grass again this spring. There weren't even weeds growing there though. We walnut trees all over up here and grass doesn't grow under any of them. Makes a guy wonder.


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## woodtick greg (Sep 12, 2011)

I'm so happy that walnut or any wood doesn't bother me! I love walnut and the smell of it when sawn or sanded. It can be very toxic to animals, never to be used as bedding. I have a cat that likes to hang out with me in the shop when there's no machinery running, but I won't let him in after working with walnut until the shop has been vacuumed.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

I love walnut. Walnut doesn't love me. It's not going to stop me I've got to much of it. 
Makes eyes a little itchy, and nose burns. 
Using a respirator helps


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## MNsawyergp (Jan 31, 2012)

I hope I haven't broken forum rules, but I searched hazards of black walnut sawdust and found the following. Give all credit to the site at the end.

Some plants like the black walnut tree, use allelopathy to inhibit the growth of competitors. This means that black walnut trees release a chemical into the soil which effectively poisons other plants. The allelopathic chemical from black walnuts is called juglone. 
Many people have allergic reactions to the juglone present in pollen from black walnut trees. Woodworkers who breathe sawdust from black walnut can get a runny nose or have asthmatic reactions. Some people can also get a rash from the sawdust or from skin contact with varnish made from black walnut.


Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/118959-allelopathic-effects-black-walnut/#ixzz1lBqHouj8
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/118959-allelopathic-effects-black-walnut/#ixzz1lBpwwL5h​​


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## MastersHand (Nov 28, 2010)

Thanks for this post and Bill thanks for tying them together. Connor by the way is doing much better. The little Buster actually woke up before me this morning and jumped in my bed and curled up with the misses and I. It was a nice start to today.
After reading the posts on this new thread a memory was jogged back.when I was young and working with dad one of my duties was to clean the Dust collector once a month.This thing was massive 16' high and took a good eight hours to empty. My Dad would make me put them in contractor bags and this old chap would come and take them for free. He told my dad he used them for his garden. He always came in at the first day of every month like clockwork. 
One month sometime in the second week he pulled up while we were sitting out front having break. My Dad said to me whys he here now as he approached the door. He stormed in and screamed you owe me $200 you killed all my roses. My dad said what do you mean and he said there must have been Walnut in there every bush is dead.
I thought to myself wow Walnut dust can kill roses. When he left with a check mind you I asked my dad about it and he said yeah I totally forgot about that oops. I said is it harmful to us and he said just as much as all dust that's why I'm always yelling at you to where a respirator.
Thank you guys so much for your wishes for Connor and this Thread. We need to get this out there

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## Corbin3388 (Jan 22, 2011)

Pink ivory and Wenge get me. I don't work with em much but I have mild reactions to both.

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## MastersHand (Nov 28, 2010)

Connor wanted to Thank all of you for your get well wishes.He said when I showed him pictures tonight that he looked like a bullfrog lol. Here's to a good year coming up "Cheers"



















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