Official Luthiers Forum!

Waddy, I got all your tolerance for CA and a bunch of other peoples' too. I could swim in the stuff, if I didn't stick to the container when I came out. I'm thinking of using it for pore filling on the ongoing Romanillos #1. As it is, that guitar's back is almost certainly joined with CA (I can't remember).

It's surprising what I'm allergic to - turpentine. I used to paint in oils, and it took me about a week to realize I had to switch to mineral spirits instead of turpentine as a solvent/medium. At this point, the only thing that occasionally bothers me in luthiery is WRC.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I don't use CA unless I have a fan behind me blowing the fumes away from me. I have had really good results with this really simple step. It takes about 60 seconds to set up the fan but is way well worth it. I have never had a terrible reaction to the stuff but it can't be good for anybody no matter what.

For CA I tried an exhaust fan with a fan blowing fumes toward the exhaust, while wearing a respirator. My eyes would still get irritated and sometimes I'd still get a delayed systemic reaction like hay fever.

I finally started wearing chemical goggles (no vents) and that was better than all the other stuff put together. I was amazed that a very small amount of fumes in my eyes would cause a systemic reaction but it did.

Now I mostly I just avoid it altogether but there are still those occasional jobs where nothing else works as well.....

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

I went for years with no reaction to cocobolo, but that all came to an end about 4 years ago. I had resawn some highly figured coco with the intent of selling half of it. I noticed some dermatitis and itchy red eyes when I sawed it, so I started to be really careful. My downfall was that one buyer wanted me to thickness sand the back, and that is when I really got sick. Needless to say, I sold all of it and the rest of my cocobolo stock.
Over the last year and a half, I have been selling the Ted Davis wood stash. I encountered some mystery 2 1/2" thick rosewood boards that I could not identify. Sawing on the outer edges did not produce any recognizable smell, and I put a photo on UMGF to see what some others though it was. Bruce Sexauer identified it as 'coco negro', a rare variety of cocobolo. Since my mission was to resaw all the Davis wood and sell it, I mustered up some courage and started resawing some, using all the normal precautions. Only when I cut more than 1/2" deep did I start to smell the unmistakeable odor of cocobolo. But I never had a hint of an allergic reaction, even after cutting about 25 guitar sets. I recall Ted telling me that he bought a large 'mystery rosewood' board in 1980 or 1981, hoping it was Brazilian RW. But he found out later that it was cocobolo. Not only was I surprised that this must have been some of the same wood, but I was even more surprised that I had no reaction at all to it. Whether it is characteristic of this variety, or because it was 30 years old, I don't know.

On the subject of CA allergy, I have long ago switched to the odorless type. It is much more expensive, but IMHO worth it. I had my one and only full-blown asthma attack after using regular CA (which gasses cyanide when it cures). Without a doubt, the best odorless CA I have found is Bob Smith Super Gold (thin) and Super Gold + (medium viscosity). It has a shorter shelf life that regular CA, but I store it in the freezer until I open a fresh bottle.

John
My first post!!

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John

Welcome!

Interesting about the Coco Negro. I've got several old pool cue blanks someone gave me that are just big enough to cut into bridges. Some is clearly Cocobolo but there was some darker stuff too that smelled like cocobolo but didn't look like any I'd seen before.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Dalbergia granadillo? Being a different species, it's not surprising that your sensitization wouldn't apply to it.

I'm going to be starting a cocobolo guitar soon, so we shall see if anything bad happens. I'm usually not allergic to much though, and I won't be making a lot of dust from it anyway. Mostly cutting the plate to shape and scraping with a dull scraper. But then the periodic bagging up of the wood chip pile fluffs up a lot of dust, so maybe I should try to sweep my chips into a bag to begin with, rather than onto the floor...

uncle bob had a bunch of beautiful d. granadillo sets at a nice price and I passed on it fearing it might be toxic. All the stories prevented me from buying any coco yet, even if I am drooling over how it looks.

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Build log

No....it is the wrong smell.

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John