Anybody ever work with Jatoba Wood?

[lorax]

I just picked up a piece at the local wood store, at it is some kind of beatiful. However I am a little worried that I am going to get poisoned, or Im not going to be able to carve it. It's hard as nails so I will probably do quite a bit of power carving on it. I am doing a couple of guardian Angel in stylized form. I never really thought about this stuff until a couple of you on the forum had problems with toxic dust.

[Tony]

Re: Anybody ever work with Jatoba Wood?

You have probably seen it but at the Beginner's Carving category there is a posting about Wood Toxicity.
About the 4th reply down there is one by pyrogite. This provides some links to check out the toxicites.

[Captain_Bandaid]

Re: Anybody ever work with Jatoba Wood?

Lorax, even if the wood is not listed at particularly toxic, you would do well to wear a GOOD dust mask when doing any power carving. Check the rating on the mask to make sure it is rated for wood sanding. The cheap ones are good only for household dust. One of the problems I have with masks is that after a while, they start fogging my glasses. I found one at Wally World for $1.88 that has a breathing vent on it and it doesn't fog my glasses. Unfortunately, it has no service rating on it so I really don't know if it is good for wood dust. Stay away from the Chinese made masks at the 'H...F...' stores, they are just too small to cover the average Americans face!