as some of you will know , i,ve made a couple of longbows from yew in the last couple of days.the reason i ask this is that on thursday when i had been working on the first bow, i went to work later on that evening and felt suddenly really unwell , i thought i had food poisoning cause i had some strange pains about the stomach /abdomen area .anyway the following day i felt fine ,so today i cut another branch to make another bow .but when i was cutting it ,a sharp piece punctured the palm of my hand.just a small pierce ,but i could,nt ignore how painfull it was for such a small nick .however i feel unwell tonight, after working with this wood again today.i only know yew was poisonous because josh told me on saturday,so am i going to croak due to poisoning or am i just a typical male hypocondriac :yikes:
how poisonous is yew
- Thread starter Gill
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How poisonous is the yew?
Poison is found in all parts except for the fleshy fruit.
The poison is called Taxine. “The alkaloid ephedrine, as well as a volatile oil and traces of a cyanogenic glycoside, taxiphyllin, are also present.” HMSO 1984
The leaves are more toxic than the seed.
(Paul Greenwood 2005)
Effect on animals
There is contradictory evidence about the effect on animals of eating yew foliage. There are many recorded instances of animals known to have died from grazing on yew leaves. There are also reports of animals eating leaves without suffering any ill effects. It is not unknown for small quantities of leaves to be added to supplement winter fodder for cattle.
Poisonous plants in Britain and their effects on animals and man published by the HMSO in 1984 is however unambiguous in its advice: “……..yew should never be fed to animals…….”
(Copyright © Tim Hills 2005)
Effect on humans
Fifty to one hundred grams of chopped leaves is considered fatal to adults.
A world-wide investigation in 1998 (Krenzelok et al.) shows 11,197 records of yew poisoning (from all Taxus species) in humans (96.4% in children less than 12 years old) and found no deaths. A 1992 article in Forensic Science International (Van Ingen et al.) stated that only 10 authenticated cases of fatal human poisoning by T. baccata had been recorded in the previous 31 years, and that they were all deliberate.
Krenzelok, E.P., Jacobsen, T.D. & Aronis, J. (1998) "Is the yew really poisonous to you?", Journal of Toxicology Clinical Toxicology, 36, 219-223.
Van Ingen, G., Visser, R., Peltenburg, H., Van Der Ark, A.M. & Voortman, M. (1992) "Sudden unexpected death due to Taxus poisoning. A report of five cases, with review of the literature". Forensic Science International, 56, 81-87.
(Copyright © Fred Hageneder 2005)
Info from: http://www.ancient-yew.org/faqs.shtml#yew
Hope this helps.
Poison is found in all parts except for the fleshy fruit.
The poison is called Taxine. “The alkaloid ephedrine, as well as a volatile oil and traces of a cyanogenic glycoside, taxiphyllin, are also present.” HMSO 1984
The leaves are more toxic than the seed.
(Paul Greenwood 2005)
Effect on animals
There is contradictory evidence about the effect on animals of eating yew foliage. There are many recorded instances of animals known to have died from grazing on yew leaves. There are also reports of animals eating leaves without suffering any ill effects. It is not unknown for small quantities of leaves to be added to supplement winter fodder for cattle.
Poisonous plants in Britain and their effects on animals and man published by the HMSO in 1984 is however unambiguous in its advice: “……..yew should never be fed to animals…….”
(Copyright © Tim Hills 2005)
Effect on humans
Fifty to one hundred grams of chopped leaves is considered fatal to adults.
A world-wide investigation in 1998 (Krenzelok et al.) shows 11,197 records of yew poisoning (from all Taxus species) in humans (96.4% in children less than 12 years old) and found no deaths. A 1992 article in Forensic Science International (Van Ingen et al.) stated that only 10 authenticated cases of fatal human poisoning by T. baccata had been recorded in the previous 31 years, and that they were all deliberate.
Krenzelok, E.P., Jacobsen, T.D. & Aronis, J. (1998) "Is the yew really poisonous to you?", Journal of Toxicology Clinical Toxicology, 36, 219-223.
Van Ingen, G., Visser, R., Peltenburg, H., Van Der Ark, A.M. & Voortman, M. (1992) "Sudden unexpected death due to Taxus poisoning. A report of five cases, with review of the literature". Forensic Science International, 56, 81-87.
(Copyright © Fred Hageneder 2005)
Info from: http://www.ancient-yew.org/faqs.shtml#yew
Hope this helps.
I know for a fact that the dust produced from sanding yew is harmful and can make you ill,not sure about infections from splinters though...Id see the doctor if youre really worried.
I know there was a bowyer here in the US who stopped using Yew.He had the same kind of problem. He knew the dust could cause health issues but it seemed he developed some sort of allergy.
Jon R.
Jon R.
Typical male..jist like me
I've played with yew and breathed some dust and had some scrapes without ill effect ( well I didnae croak,yet)
But not being a medic etc...if it persists go get yourself checked by the GP,tae hell wi' nhs 24 nonsense.
Btw I've also ingested numerous toxins by nose,mouth and puncture and I'm still here,so far...
I've played with yew and breathed some dust and had some scrapes without ill effect ( well I didnae croak,yet)
But not being a medic etc...if it persists go get yourself checked by the GP,tae hell wi' nhs 24 nonsense.
Btw I've also ingested numerous toxins by nose,mouth and puncture and I'm still here,so far...
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Yew doesn't primarily cause gastric problems. It causes nerve and heart rhythm problems, you sound like you have something far more likely to be norovirus than yew. The gut rot that is reported as part of yew poisoning is only found when it is ingested.
People can be funny little onions, we blame the unfamiliar or the untrustworthy, rather than the likeliest. I got dysentery 2 years ago, i was really angry at tescos because i had eaten two not very nice Italian pies the day I became ill. Three days before i drank from straight from a spring. What more likely to have made me very ill for 10 days; a waterborne pathogen or food borne one?
People can be funny little onions, we blame the unfamiliar or the untrustworthy, rather than the likeliest. I got dysentery 2 years ago, i was really angry at tescos because i had eaten two not very nice Italian pies the day I became ill. Three days before i drank from straight from a spring. What more likely to have made me very ill for 10 days; a waterborne pathogen or food borne one?
Or both, the waterbourne one weakened your system allowing the foodborne one to make you sick, far sicker that you would have been if you had just either drank the water or eaten the food.
for reference;
http://www.mnwoodturners.com/New_Member_Docs/Toxic_Woods_Chart.html
it may be an allergic reaction to the yew
it may be psychosematic
but you're not going to die
http://www.mnwoodturners.com/New_Member_Docs/Toxic_Woods_Chart.html
it may be an allergic reaction to the yew
it may be psychosematic
but you're not going to die
Glad I came across this thread.
After felling a Yew tree (more of a large bush really) in my garden I decided to use some of the wood. So far I have made a walking stick and a nice Bowdrill (I like the wood colouration of Yew). The walking stick is seasoning now before final sanding and some carving.
I roughly sanded the stick soon after initial carving to give a nice round shape to it but did not use a mask.
So I will now be doing the fine sanding outdoors with a face mask on. I know Yew is poisonous both in the foilage and the wood but a lack of common sense overcame me when doing the rough sanding without a mask.
Cheers for the reminder guys.
George
After felling a Yew tree (more of a large bush really) in my garden I decided to use some of the wood. So far I have made a walking stick and a nice Bowdrill (I like the wood colouration of Yew). The walking stick is seasoning now before final sanding and some carving.
I roughly sanded the stick soon after initial carving to give a nice round shape to it but did not use a mask.
So I will now be doing the fine sanding outdoors with a face mask on. I know Yew is poisonous both in the foilage and the wood but a lack of common sense overcame me when doing the rough sanding without a mask.
Cheers for the reminder guys.
George
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I am glad i came across this thread too. I didn't know that yew wood dust can cause nausea until simon post the link.
I do believe that a yew bowl is safe to drink out off as the toxic princibles are barely soluble in water. They are more soluble in meths but then if you are drinking that you have real problem not invovling yew. But I would get the splinter out quickly, i know dogs have being poisoned by in injesting small fragments from a stick.
When I had a 3cm splinter of pine stuck in the ligment in my hand for 10 months, drinking pine tea made me feel really sick. I suppose it was body making antibodies to the foriegn body.
I do believe that a yew bowl is safe to drink out off as the toxic princibles are barely soluble in water. They are more soluble in meths but then if you are drinking that you have real problem not invovling yew. But I would get the splinter out quickly, i know dogs have being poisoned by in injesting small fragments from a stick.
When I had a 3cm splinter of pine stuck in the ligment in my hand for 10 months, drinking pine tea made me feel really sick. I suppose it was body making antibodies to the foriegn body.
Hello Guys.
Toxic timbers. They're out there. I love wood and love messing about with unusual timber. When I"ve worked with a lot of woods, my experience has been that often the more durable the timber, the nastier the compounds there are in it. Yew is defo, defo bad stuff, and I have heard of people who have had a real heavy exposure to yew dust, developing an allergic response to all wood dusts afterwards. Cedar is also quite nasty and I experienced similar symptoms to Gill after working with it one afternoon (felt sick, and snotty and my lungs felt clogged and obstructed). Interestingly, the cedar dust also had a really sweet aroma to it, so I wonder if there's an indication there. The worst I found was ironwood (greenhart) which was recovered from some old pier pilings. It was 300 or so years old and looked in really good nick. The dust produced a nasty reaction, and the tiny splinters I got in my hands produced really nasty septic welts.
My theory is, that if the bugs, beasts and fungi don't want to touch it, then there must be a reason, and maybe this is some sort of indicator of nasty compounds in the timber. Or perhaps, I'm talking c**p, so someone please correct me.
Toxic timbers. They're out there. I love wood and love messing about with unusual timber. When I"ve worked with a lot of woods, my experience has been that often the more durable the timber, the nastier the compounds there are in it. Yew is defo, defo bad stuff, and I have heard of people who have had a real heavy exposure to yew dust, developing an allergic response to all wood dusts afterwards. Cedar is also quite nasty and I experienced similar symptoms to Gill after working with it one afternoon (felt sick, and snotty and my lungs felt clogged and obstructed). Interestingly, the cedar dust also had a really sweet aroma to it, so I wonder if there's an indication there. The worst I found was ironwood (greenhart) which was recovered from some old pier pilings. It was 300 or so years old and looked in really good nick. The dust produced a nasty reaction, and the tiny splinters I got in my hands produced really nasty septic welts.
My theory is, that if the bugs, beasts and fungi don't want to touch it, then there must be a reason, and maybe this is some sort of indicator of nasty compounds in the timber. Or perhaps, I'm talking c**p, so someone please correct me.
O
