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eyesman_01

Cedar Toxic?

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I have used Western Red Cedar for over thirty years on the exterior of custom homes I build and have never seen anyone get ill including the carpenters. However a week ago my five year old daughter was in the garage with me while I was cutting blanks out of old growth vertical grain Red Cedar for the lathe on my table saw with all my dust collector and filtration equipment going. I cut the Red cedar for twenty minutes or so. I started putting the tools away and realized I forgot to cut up a few pieces of White Cedar a friend gave me (came from Northern Michigan). I probably did the crosscuts for a couple of minutes and by the time I carried the blanks over for her to stack at the bench she was sneezing non stop. She seemed fine but kept sneezing so I took her in the house and she stopped right away and luckily did not get sick or have a reaction. My kids have been out there with me plenty of times before and I do put a mask and muffs on them if I am doing anything very heavy at all but they have helped me sweep and clean and never had a problem. It was for sure the White cedar. Sorry for the long post.

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The tannins and other chemicals in Cedar are sensitizers. As Fish's example you can use them for years and never have a problem. But the next time you use it you may land in the hospital from a severe allergic reaction. one never knows.

Would I stop using Cedar? Nope.

Do I take every precaution? I'm lying if I say I do every time but I should..

as with anything we do USE CAUTIOIN! and USE YOUR BRAIN! and all will be fine.

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Thanks for the input. I've used cedar around the house for several different project and guess I never noticed any adverse reactions. I've got some scraps laying around I thought I could use for my first try at making crankbaits. Guess I'll pay closer attention and take precautions from now on. Thanks again.

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