Bloodwood transfer into maple end grain while sanding

probably too late now, and hopefully I won’t sound like an ass… but bloodwood can cause health issues to sensitive people, and trigger an allergic reaction. I wouldn’t use that wood for a cutting board that requires frequent contact with skin, and comes in direct contact with FOOD…

are you wiping the board after sanding it ? maybe try mineral spirits?

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

You could try compressed air to get rid of some of the red.

I have run into that problem with ebony and holly. I ended up finishing them separately then putting them together.
You can also try to sand in the direction from light wood to dark.

-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way - Tyler, TX

This is what Bloodwood did to me: Allergic Reaction to Bloodwood

You may want to just hang that one on the wall.

-- Happy woodworking! http://www.blakeweber.us

I have to speak up again…. I’ll second Blake on that one – especially if this is a gift – you don’t want the recipient, or their kids to get affected from this lumber selection…

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

Thanks for the info on the allergic reaction. I’ve sawed, planed, scraped and sanded the stuff for many hours over a few weeks and haven’t had an issue. Doing a quick Google search it seems that the allergy issue is not very prevalent. I guess the odds of someone having a nut allergy or something similar. Different people are allergic to all kinds of wood like teak, walnut, padauk, etc… I’m giving these to my parents and aunt/uncle. I’ll make the disclaimer that if they notice any skin irritation to discontinue the cutting board use. And I probably won’t use it again for a cutting board (although it’s super dense, tight grained and beautiful!). It was just a nice looking scrap at the lumber yard. Thanks again guys…

I guess there’s no clever ways to avoid my main concern. I didn’t really notice the red in the maple until I wiped it with mineral spirits. I re-routed the edges to just take off the top layer then was more careful sanding.

-- some day I hope to have enough clamps to need a clamp cart!

Great advise from my fellow jocks above. I incountered the same issues with Bubinga and maple,what I ended up doing and (it is tedious) but try masking the light wood with blue tape and sand your dark wood then remove the tape mask the other wood and repeate. A card scraper works well and does not ” bleed” no punt intended onto the light wood. Oh and like PurpLev said wipe with mineral spirit between sandings.
Thanks for posting.

-- All bleeding will eventually stop.

Jacques…my title should have been how do I stop my bloodwood from bleeding? You get the credits.

-- some day I hope to have enough clamps to need a clamp cart!

i had the same issue with my rosewood and maple table with shellac .

i had to sand the whole thing again ( groan ) ,
after air , as purple said , mineral spirits and a rag to clean ,

then i used oil instead , no problem !

-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle

HI A way to prevent dark bleeding in to light is to apply a sanding sealer to the wood sand a little and apply sealer I know this is time consuming but worth it. Remember that u would have to consume at least a table spoon full of the sealer to be realy ill if that is what some may be worried about. if that is a problm use blond shellac or water base sealer. when done finish with a food safe finish

Regards Roger in SA

-- Africa is not for sissies