Klarinet Archive - Posting 000418.txt from 2003/10

From: "Ken Wolman" <kwolman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] cocabolo wood
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 08:49:01 -0400

Lelia Loban wrote:

> Howard Klug wrote,
> >I believe that some people can also have skin reactions to the
> >cocobolo wood (I don't).
>
> The problem does seem to be with the dust rather than the finished product.
> I’ve played a cocobolo recorder for years without any problems; and my
> husband sometimes uses a cocobolo walking stick that he made himself.
> However, while he was making this stick, several other sticks and some
> fountain pens out of cocobolo, he developed the allergy, within just a few
> sessions with the saw, lathe and sander. His face and neck swelled, he got
> flu-like symptoms and he broke out in a severe rash, similar to a poison
> ivy rash, on his face, hands and arms -- everywhere the dust had touched.
> This mess took weeks to heal. His doctor warned him never to work in
> cocobolo again.

Depending on the wood, it can be more than the dust, it can also be the
finished product. This seems to be a particular problem with instruments where
your mouth comes in direct contact with the "means of production," i.e., wooden
flutes, either of the Irish or Baroque reproduction variety, and also high-end
recorders. Everybody doesn't like somethin'--one dealer told me that tulipwood
(gorgeous, with red streaks), rosewood (I think cocobolo is a subset?),
palisander (ditto?), and olivewood can set off ugly rashes and painful
swellings around the mouth. I don't recall whether the blackwood family is
also implicated. The trouble is that you won't know whether you're allergic
until you play the instrument. I've known of flute players who've spent quite
a bit of money on a custom Irish or Baroque flute only to send it back to the
maker so he can affix a plate to the embouchure hole.

Ken
--
Kenneth Wolman
Proposal Development Department
Room SW334
Sarnoff Corporation
609-734-2538

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