what are the most common poisonous woods?

[Big John]

Hi All,

I'm trying to avoid doing myself in here, rather than making lethal blow darts you understand!

In many different places people mention that this or that is a great wood for carving, but I think more practically most of us have to use what is available at the time for carving projects.

With this in mind, what are the common British woods to avoid for making spoons, chopping boards and other eating utensils?

I'm guessing Yew is on the list?

Thanks guys,

 

[The Joker]

Hi John

Not sure about the bark or wood but here a some poisonous trees, I all ways play safe and just avoid them altogether.

Yew
Cedars
Horse Chestnut
Laburnum
some Laurels (I think California Laurel or Oregon Myrtle)
Hickories

I hope that helps abit.

pete

 

[underground]

London Plane can be a bad irritant for some- the pollen has been known to cause some tree surgeon friends of mine to have streaming eyes and burning nose/throat so much so that they couldn't work on them...

I'm not sure if the tree is strictly poisonous but it's known as an irritant...

 

[running bare]

London Plane can be a bad irritant for some- the pollen has been known to cause some tree surgeon friends of mine to have streaming eyes and burning nose/throat so much so that they couldn't work on them...

I'm not sure if the tree is strictly poisonous but it's known as an irritant...

i would have thought any plane would be hazardous depending on how close you get to the exhausts :11doh:

 

[running bare]

sorry guys havnt heard of london plane and couldnt resist the quip

 

[bambodoggy]

While the woods mentioned below are indeed poisinous to eat they are fine for making cooking utencils out of apparently.... the Yew particularly worried me as it is very poisinous but I am told it's fine to make stuff with....I think it was Eds that has a wooden wine goblet made of Yew.

This has been talked about in a fair bit of detail on here in the past. Have a butchers at this thread:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=5138&page=4&pp=10&highlight=utencils

Hope that helps a bit

Bam.

 

[Paganwolf]

While the woods mentioned below are indeed poisinous to eat they are fine for making cooking utencils out of apparently.... the Yew particularly worried me as it is very poisinous but I am told it's fine to make stuff with....I think it was Eds that has a wooden wine goblet made of Yew.

This has been talked about in a fair bit of detail on here in the past. Have a butchers at this thread:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=5138&page=4&pp=10&highlight=utencils

Hope that helps a bit

Bam.

Yew is beautiful to carve and to make spoons,and has been yewsed to make spoons in the past, as long as they are seasoned well once made and sealed with a good oil such as tung oil they are ok to use, there is negligable amounts of taxin left in a well seasoned spoon and once oiled i would worry more about eating a big mac than the spoon but who says you have to yews it (sorry )it can be an ornimental peice. I would tend to go for Birch or oak as a preference anyways buddy and stay away from highly resinous woods.

 

[Venger]

This one is from a thread a while ago, thought I'd save it, now I get to pass it on!

http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/rec.wood.misc/wood.toxic

 

[Big John]

Thanks all, that's great. It seems I'm pretty safe with the most common stuff apart from Yew and Horse Chestnut.

Cheers,