Have any of you out there had any skin irritations, or resperatory problems from working with various birch woods? Black, Yellow, White? Was turning a very large , black birch bowl that was mostly reddish, with a lot of interesting figure in it a few weeks back, and developed a real nasty skin irritation that itched pretty bad from it. Checked a list of toxic type woods, and found that birch has a moderate irritant factor with it. Surprised me after cutting a lot of it for years now on the sawmill. Guess I'll stick to maple, and cherry bowls from now on.
It wasn't spalted was it? I would have thought birch was one of the most inert woods used. I know it can be a respiratory irritant from the fine dust. My source doesn't mention skin rash.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,8085.0.html
Yep, I've never heard of birch causing skin irritation either. That's one of the reasons it's used for toothpicks and popsicle sticks.
I know you specifically asked about birch, which I have no knowledge of any reaction, but I do have a friend who developed a serious reaction to working with oak. It affected his breathing. He now works with any other species.
I have been selling firewood for over 30 years and twice I have had request's that there not be any birch because they where allergic to it . I think they had been tested for it .
Since posting , I have also talked to a logger that used to sell birch bolts to a commercial turning mill, and said that in the summer, they slowed way down on buying . The reason was that the workers were claiming that the birch was making them sick. On the question about spalting, now there was a very slight spalting to the bowl blank I mentioned. Could be the problem. Will certainly keep the respirator handy for birch in the future, and keep on the long sleeves.