Ipe Dust.......What the !!!!!!!!!

[Bearded bowyer]

Hi all
Its mt first time working with Ipe......What the heck is going on with the dust?!?!?!?
Here is a pic

[Del the cat]

Are you sure you haven't been picking your nose .
Dunno, not used the stuff myself,  but some woods do look much different when freshly cut e.g Osage... bright yellow
Just don't lick it
Del

[Badger]

  Not unusual, caught me off guard also. Bothers my sinuses very bad.

[paulsemp]

Wear a mask and hook up some sort of dust collection. Most things don't bother me but ipe dust is bad news.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Long sleeves arent a bad plan. The sweat on your arms can make it stick to you, its nasty stuff. But used the right way, its a great bow wood.

[Marc St Louis]

Sometimes it's red dust

[JackCrafty]

Some pieces are worse than others.  Doesn't bother me at all but wearing a mask is a good idea regardless.

[Arrowind]

  ......the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this was the SciFi channel.  Or is this guy playing some kind of prank?  can you tell I've never used ipe?   That is so strange........but cool.     In a strange way.

[Badger]

  Mark, I have had yellow, rusty red, moss green. brown. All of it bothers my respiratory.

[Eric Krewson]

A friend put his first piece of Ipe to a belt sander and had such a violent allergic reaction he passed out cold. I have never used the stuff as I tend to react negatively when exposed to some wood sawdusts.

[Badger]

     I may have to quit woodworking at some point. I only use hand tools on osage and still get sneezing fits at night that might last an hour every time I work on it which is almost every day.

[Bearded bowyer]

You've all got me a bit worried now........
I use a mask and dust extraction system.....no problems yet, but I am an asthmatic so time will tell.
Most people I know use it as a core lamination so there is less dust than if its the belly and you are continually working it.
I've got three bows to make using it as the belly. I have to admit it, I don't really like it.......I also find it damn hard to rasp/ scrape etc.

[Badger]

  I use mostly a sharp scraper on ipe. If you are confident with the belt sander just take it down till it starts to be bend a tad then go to the scraper.

[wood_bandit 99]

The first thing I thought is "is he putting it under a black light?" Some woods glow über it but it sounds like they are many colors. Osage and yew give me coughing fits and yew completely blocks up my sinuses. I work on osage and yew so much, more osage, that I swear I have a few POUNDS circulating in my blood. Time will tell if I die young or if I turn into "osage man" yellow skin,hair,and eyes with yellow liquid wood blood.  when I work on yew with just hand tools I have major coughing fits and feel sick for awhile after working on it.

[nathan elliot]

I think you will find most wood dust is bad for you. Stuff like Tamarac causes eye cancer, Laurel has so much cyanide in it you can kill yourself trimming a hedge of the stuff. Cherry is the same, my workshop is full of green cherry i'm processing at the moment and the smell that hits you when you open the door in the morning is very strong indeed. Yew is another really nasty one. That said I think our immune systems are so under worked these days what with all the antibiotics and disinfectant sprays, a little bit of organic poison every now and again may actually be good for you.

Disclaimer: I in no way indorse or encourage the wanton use wood for medical purposes. Also some wood may be addictive.