An Article doing a disservice

Egad! sounds nasty, Mike. Buddy of mine was putting together a deck frame using treated lumber, managed to wipe the stuff in his eyes…same deal, had to rub something the consistency of vaseline in his eyes for a week.
Thanks! I don’t turn, but I was thinking of picking some of this up from Franks lumber in Union City…at least I know what to watch for.

-- "Democracy is by far the worst system of government. Except all the others that have been tried." ~ Winston Churchill

I haven’t read the article yet, but I’ll believe you before her any day.

I seem to remember something, that if the spalted wood is kiln dried, it kills the spores.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

I with you there D &B I’ll take Mikes advise. sounds like big trouble if you don’t

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Bravo Mike!

Very well written!

Maybe she meant to leave a space between my and cologist. Like this:

My Cologist said it aint so!

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

i have a problem with that mag. seems like they know everything and readers are just a pain they must endure to have a place to show off there great work.. your point is well taken. thankfully spalted wood does not bother me. i love turning the stuff.. you just never know what you’ll get untill you start spinning.

-- It's not a sickness, i can stop buying tools anytime.

Well, Mike- you know the definition of an expert- “someone from out of town with a video tape”.

I am glad John mentioned his opinion of the magazine. I, long ago, allowed my subscription lapse because I felt that much of the magazine was targeted to something I never could attain.

I’m with the rest of you. As a physician and a woodworker, I always take extra precautions with spalted woods.

Here’s a quote from the USDA’s Forest Products Laboratory from March 2004:

“Caution
Although the white rot fungi responsible for the decorative appearance are not pathogenic (a health problem), there might be some molds associated with the spalting process that could cause allergies in people. It is also possible that some pathogenic molds, such as Aspergillus fumigatus (responsible for “farmers lung”), might be present, so it is always a good idea to work in well-ventilated areas.”

That author should do some research before publishing. So should the editors…

-- GSY from N. Idaho

Well said ,scopemonkey.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

I’m with you scopemonkey.
I’m a former clinical chemist and medical lab director.

Aspergillosis is a fungal disease that I don’t want in my lungs.

-- Randy, Rustic Artisan, a family tradition. (No PM's - auto-deleted.) - "I am a seeker, not a follower."

Mike Don’t think that you are preaching to the Choir. We appreciate your first hand experience. Hang in there, and God bless you/

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

All I know is what happened to me. Like I said, my eyes were glued shut and I had a rash over most of my body. I wrote about it on this blog about 2 years ago. I like the magazine but that women thought her sh*t didn’t stink. I don’t know who she thought she was, but the crap she is laying out for people is wrong, I don’t care how many mycologists she knows. Thanks for the support. m

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

Thanks Mike and everyone else for this helpful reminder. I love turning spalted wood too, but have never had a reaction to it.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

I find many of the problems in the world today result from what is known in psychobabble as confabulation and avoidance of cognitive dissonance. In regular words, people make things up without enough info, believe it, then do everything they can not to FEEL wrong even if they ARE wrong (except admit it and find out the facts). Including and not limited to telling everyone who disagrees that the disagreeing party is the one who is wrong. Often this escalates to horrific proportions. I think the liberal use of qualifiers would help. Phrases like “maybe”, “I think”, “seems to me”, “I feel that for myself personally”, etc. Of course that’s my opinion, and I could be wrong. Heh.

-- Ooo, er.

Skarp, you must have been a MSW or are a practicing one now. I worked in rehab with Social Workers and that kind of talk is only common to MSWs as they hold 2 fingers up on both hands and wiggle those fingers as they make their point. And they start every sentence with I feel….............. Hope you have a sense of humor I am just kidding you. lol.

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

THank you for the information. I didn’t know.

-- jack -- measure once, curse twice!

Seems(skarps advice) like anyone can write articles for woodworking magazines these days, without having “done their time” or have experience to back it up.
Seems(skarps advice) like any journalist can take a shop class and become an editor.
I swear some articles i read are written by people I saw buying their first tools six months ago.
My peeve with these magazines was that they only publish one worthwhile article per issue, and(with fine woodworking), they keep trying to sell you that one good article in different formats.

Now that they are expanding into criticizing devoted readers who bring things to their attention, makes me wonder if we still need those mags now that we have lumberjocks.

stepping down off soapbox
thanks for your time

-- Junior -Quality is never an accident-it is the reward for the effort involved.

I think it’s great that you brought this subject up again Mike, I remember your old threads, here.

And here. There’s a lot of info on them.

People may want to read some of it.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Thanks for the heads up… I like FWW in general, but once in a while they’ll publish something that just has no grounds, or something about it just doesnt make sense… take it with a grain of salt.

disappointing the reply you got from the author…

Like others – I’ll take YOUR word first.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I’m glad I read this. I haven’t had the pleasure (or possible displeasure?) of working with spalted lumber yet, but if I do, at least I will know that it may cause problems. I’m still hoping to get some though, as I think it really does add a lot to the figure.

-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY

If it causes you a problem or not is not the issue. It’s the long term consequences that is the point I’m trying to warn people about. I used to turn it all the time with no problems, then one day I had a reaction. I don’t know why. It just happened. Just wear good protective gear especially breathing gear, either a closed resperator or at least a painters type that filters micro organisms. Just be safe people that is all I’m trying to get across, not the sky is falling. Mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

I run into mahogany type woods sometimes that’ll make my nose run and a rash on my skin from working it. The strange thing is, it will look and smell exactly like wood that doesn’t cause this problem for me.

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

Mold spores in spalted wood has been beaten to death so much, I thought it was common knowledge.

I think Mike did the right thing by bringing it to the writer’s attention. But you can lead a horse to water…

-- - Please help keep Lumberjocks an enjoyable escape by refusing to participate in political discussions. Simply spit out the bait and ignore the thread...

Thanks everyone for the kind words. mike

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com