Pau Ferro Chisels

[dunbarhamlin]

Got some little detail chisels last week - should be great for cleaning up in hard to reach places or where I want to choke right up on the work

But, ouch! Prepping the blades didn't take long, but just long enough to find out the hard way that the handles were freshly machined without a finish... and that I'm allergic to Pau Ferro.

Right hand fingers ballooned up like raw sausages with avocado texturing on the tops and sides. Left almost unaffected - happily not allergic to steel.
A week later, almost back to normal size, but with blotched pads that feel like plastic, a general burnt appearance and still too sore to pick up hot tea.

(Happily, I'd realised what was happening before any comfort breaks were needed so only got a little spread to back of neck, forehead, bridge of nose)

From now on, any tool I'm uncertain about gets dunked in finish before I look at the business end.
Speaking of which, I use lac for almost everything - is this likely to provided a good enough physical barrier?

[engineerone]

nasty one that, are they a branded chisel, or did you get a choice of handles??? from a maker.

i guess it would depend on the lac that you use because obviously you want the wood to breathe, but not leach through.

i would guess a plastic type of product and a long drying time would be the only way to go.

maybe you should also get an allergy test to ensure it is the wood and not some other process. maybe something to do with the cleaning or other items they used when making the handles.

hope it clears up soonest
paul

[dunbarhamlin]

Thanks Paul
Hopefully be sorted by the weekend. If it paid the bills it'd be dreadful.

They're the Paul Beebe detail chisels from LV - just the thing for working inside a half finished mandolin.
I've dunked them in Ubeaut - so really a lac/oil concoction (and I do mean dunked - not just padded on.) Think I will go over it with something else once it's cured.

I've had similar (though without the swelling) reaction to macassar and coco before - always use gloves and hose down straight afterwards for those now. I just hope (vainly, I expect) that this is separate rather than increased sensitivity to all three.

Still nothing like as bad as my reaction to ferrets in heat; the only thing that gives me real trouble.

Cheers
Steve

[engineerone]

well steve don't stick them down your trousers

paul

[dunbarhamlin]

;D Ha. Wish I still had the little monsters. They'd jump about a bit and then just go to sleep in a trouser leg. Just like a waste paper basket, sock drawer, filing cabinet (dammit), knitting wool cupboard and anywhere else there might be mischief to be had.

They also think they're good at the typing thing (they're not)

Just twice a year I couldn't go near them without ending up like The Thing.

[evergreen]

Dunbarhamlin

Allergies of all kinds are an increasing hazard these days, or so it appears. Nobody is sure why.

Seems odd that your chisel handles had no finish on them at all. I use Birchwood Casey's "Truoil" gunstock finish on handles - it's a very tough oil/varnish mix but by the sound of it, you've already thought of something similar. So, maybe you could add good old polyurethane varnish on top? God knows, in the 1970s, I slapped polyurethane on to no end of projects. I wanted to make them as "modern" and as indestructible as possible! And PU varnish is very tough and would provide an adequate seal, I'd have thought.

Alternatively, why not make some new chisel handles out of some kinder wood?

Regards.

[dunbarhamlin]

I think it may be that they're finished and then bored for the blade (they're shoulderless, feruleless chisels just for light palm work) - certainly the socket end had some raw end grain showing - may just have been dust from the fellow's workshop of course.
If I get any further problems, I will replace the handles. And pau ferro goes on to the list of woods that need barrier cream, gloves and face mask 'just-in-case'. (I find a full face mask good even for hand work with scary wood - because then there's no way to rub an eye or scratch your nose (b****x have to take care of themselves ))

[jay]

Pics please.

(ps. antihistamine works a treat.)

[dunbarhamlin]

Oi some folks might be eating a late supper. They won't want pictures of mouldy sausages. Anyways. I need to sort out the bits for my camera - they're in a 'safe place' - so a new one might be quicker.
Have been using antihistamines, though the chemist I went to first gave me some pink cream (pink icing might have been more effective)

[engineerone]

;)blimey i thought calomine lotion went out with the
first idea of sunfactor 15 ;D

you 're not supposed to use heavy machinery, like chisels
when on antihistamines are you???
paul