# Is Yew wood too poisonous for a chopping board?



## philb88 (9 Apr 2011)

Is yew wood itself too poisonous for a chopping board? 
As I've got a few pieces that are waney edge but solus centre planks!

Phil


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## Jonzjob (9 Apr 2011)

This may help you decide? It is from Chas' sticky on the turning forum.

http://htmlimg4.scribdassets.com/5tygen ... f5/000.jpg

It came out very small on my screen, but it wil zoom in OK. Personally, I wouldn't use it.


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## woodbloke (9 Apr 2011)

philb88":hrwl229u said:


> Is yew wood itself too poisonous for a chopping board?
> As I've got a few pieces that are waney edge but solus centre planks!
> 
> Phil


Short answer...nope. All parts of the tree are toxic - Rob


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## philb88 (9 Apr 2011)

Thanks guys! 
I thought this might be the case! Maybe they'll have to just be display boards!!

PHIL


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## mtt.tr (9 Apr 2011)

Didnt know it was poisonous 

Great list


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## Harbo (9 Apr 2011)

Can be used to make Pharmaceutical Drugs - a friend of mine sells his yew hedge trimmings each year for that.

Rod


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## bugbear (11 Apr 2011)

I think this may be health and safety gone mad:

Going to the source document for some of the info in that table:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis30.pdf

(note the source)

We read:



HSE Woodworking National Interest Group":3o815gi5 said:


> Toxicity
> In bulk, wood is unlikely to give rise to toxic effects. The hazardous forms that may give rise to health risks are:
> ● dust;
> ● sap, latex or lichens associated with a wood.



So (unless I'm severely misreading) you could make a chopping board out of damn near any timber you liked.

BugBear


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## theartfulbodger (11 Apr 2011)

I wouldn't.

Yew is used to make longbows, and they're pretty dangerous #-o (hammer)


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## Jonzjob (11 Apr 2011)

I wouldn't reccomend oleander either. Even burning the wood on a barbie is a no no, big time. Even cutting it we have to wear gloves.

As for yew, best not to use dusty boards I suppose?

"dermatitis, systemic effects eg headache, blood pressure drop, cardiac effects"


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## wyldpuss (11 Apr 2011)

You think wood is dangerous! A drug I was recently prescribed came with 31 printed lines of serious side effects!

Roy.


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## Muina (12 Apr 2011)

Yew's an incredible wood, the only part of the tree that isn't directly toxic is the red aril surrounding the seed (best not to try though), yet there's a substance in the bark, leaves and wood called taxol that can stop the spread of certain cancers and it's been used for years. The only problem is that in the tree it's in tiny quantities so you need the bark from I think 6 trees to treat just one patient (if I remember right).

It's also a rejuvenating tree, growth from one seed can last forever! Basically the branches droop down to the floor and roots grow from there, then the branch separates from the rest of the tree and so starts a 'new' tree.

But as for using it as a chopping board, I'd say it's a BIG no. In fact using it for any direct food contact is not advised.

Anthony


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## Tetsuaiga (16 Nov 2015)

Personally it wouldnt worry me. Its not like you're eating the wood, i often eat the berries but of course not the seed.


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## Bm101 (16 Nov 2015)

Really?!? What do they taste like? You're a braver man than me.
As far as I remember the old celts thought the Yew was some sort of sacred tree. It was one of seven. The Oak being the most important. But the Yew was apparently something a bit shady, connected to the dead, that's why apparently you see a lot of Yew trees in Christian burial grounds to this day. I have no empirical research to back this up of course, something I read in a book many years ago when I was young and trusting of the written word. The celts didn't write anything down so it's all a bit hazy I guess. 
Personally I'm with Muina. Why take the chance? 
It's no chance that most prescriptive drugs are derived at source at least from plants. My Mrs works at GSK on a derivative of digitalis (foxglove). Fine line between use and abuse of plant attributes throughout human history. Did you know for example that rubbing the juice from the leaves from Horse chestnut on your skin is a sun block? Also, scrunch the leaves up in water and you can form a lathery soap thats pretty good for washing. All drugs are synthesised from plant compounds at some point in their evolution. God only knows what our ancestors knew about plant properties that is lost to us now.


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## JakeS (17 Nov 2015)

Bm101":2r8aambx said:


> God only knows what our ancestors knew about plant properties that is lost to us now.



How to cure MRSA, apparently!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-no ... e-32117815


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## woodpig (17 Nov 2015)

Tetsuaiga":1ligqn6z said:


> Personally it wouldnt worry me. Its not like you're eating the wood, i often eat the berries but of course not the seed.



Yes me too, they taste lovely. Our old house had about twenty small yew bushes in the garden so I used to eat quite a few when the berries appeared.


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## duncanh (17 Nov 2015)

woodpig":12i0cs9b said:


> Tetsuaiga":12i0cs9b said:
> 
> 
> > Personally it wouldnt worry me. Its not like you're eating the wood, i often eat the berries but of course not the seed.
> ...



I also sometimes eat the berries. They're wonderfully tasty, kind of like a sweet raspberry but not quite. They have a strange gelatinous texture but not unpleasant and well worth trying. Just don't swallow the seed.


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## AJB Temple (17 Nov 2015)

Honestly chaps...Yew seeds are known to be seriously toxic and easting the berries risks seed ingestion. Even if you are careful, the child seeing you may not be aware that crunching the seed (which otherwise passes through the body harmlessly) can be fatal at the level of 3 seeds (for an adult). Why take an unnecessary risk? 

All parts of the Yew contain toxins. It is quite obviously unsuitable as a chopping board. Get some nice walnut or maple!


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## Racers (17 Nov 2015)

Alcohol is poisonous if you consume enough.

Black walnut toxicity http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1148.html 

Pete


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## AJB Temple (17 Nov 2015)

Pete - you know full well the point I am making. The established practice for chipping boards is to use wood from trees where the fruit is edible by humans. Even water kills if over consumed, but the point is that chopping boards are used to prepare food that can be consumed by anyone, and the cook will not necessarily know what allergies or sensitivities they have. There is simply no sense in using materials that are known to have significant toxicity. 

Perhaps I should add that I used to own a restaurant and perhaps have a heightened awareness of food safety and the draconian rules surrounding it. which may make me paranoid ;-) There is a lot of research around into what constitutes food safe surfaces. Personally for domestic use I prefer end grain maple as it is kind to very sharp knife blades (the wood is not too hard), self healing, and reasonably durable. Canadian hard rock maple end grain is traditional. A lot of the Italian makers to the trade are using Acacia. I use these for meat and fish prep: http://www.butchersequipment.co.uk/pro- ... -40-x-10cm. Weighs a ton but very good!


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## Phil Pascoe (17 Nov 2015)

I did read somewhere that if you ate 3 1/2 oz. of yew sawdust it would make you very ill.


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## chipmunk (17 Nov 2015)

I went for a look around Peter Hall's new shop in Windermere (http://peter-hall-shop.co.uk/) which has some beautiful stuff but I questioned this very timber choice for a bread/choppingboard they were selling. I was confidently informed that it was fine because the finish was robust.

I pass no comment on the validity of the claim but some obviously feel that it is fine to sell such items.

Jon


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## CHJ (17 Nov 2015)

phil.p":d2srvxvp said:


> I did read somewhere that if you ate 3 1/2 oz. of yew sawdust it would make you very ill.


It could be more than enough to kill most horses. The ingestion of green leaves needed is even less.

Never ceases to amaze me how ignorant of toxic plants such as yew and ragwort many of the shall we say 'weekend horse owners' are of risks. 
Having just said that I see several fields near me with long term stock grazing where the owners don't bother to remove the ragwort, just hope all their stock has more intelligence. 
I did bother to have a very heated attack on someone local just last year who was dumping his hedge trimmings including Yew into a local field for the animals to clean up. (Ex metropolis retiree)


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## Racers (17 Nov 2015)

AJB Temple":1wvcinpr said:


> Pete - you know full well the point I am making. The established practice for chipping boards is to use wood from trees where the fruit is edible by humans. Even water kills if over consumed, but the point is that chopping boards are used to prepare food that can be consumed by anyone, and the cook will not necessarily know what allergies or sensitivities they have. There is simply no sense in using materials that are known to have significant toxicity.
> 
> Perhaps I should add that I used to own a restaurant and perhaps have a heightened awareness of food safety and the draconian rules surrounding it. which may make me paranoid ;-) There is a lot of research around into what constitutes food safe surfaces. Personally for domestic use I prefer end grain maple as it is kind to very sharp knife blades (the wood is not too hard), self healing, and reasonably durable. Canadian hard rock maple end grain is traditional. A lot of the Italian makers to the trade are using Acacia. I use these for meat and fish prep: http://www.butchersequipment.co.uk/pro- ... -40-x-10cm. Weighs a ton but very good!



I made a yew heart shaped fob for the wife's keys (Love Yew) it hasn't killed her yet!

I do understand where you are coming from with the health and safety point.

Pete


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## woodpig (17 Nov 2015)

I think Olive wood is one of the nicest for chopping boards, you often see them for sale at craft shows.


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## AJB Temple (17 Nov 2015)

I agree Olive wood is nice. But the best for high quality chopping boards is end grain and generally you cannot get Olive thick enough to make large boards. Great for cheese and such like.


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## Jonzjob (17 Nov 2015)

Racers":mu8ohjb3 said:


> I made a yew heart shaped fob for the wife's keys (Love Yew) it hasn't killed her yet!
> 
> I do understand where you are coming from with the health and safety point.
> 
> Pete



Just make sure you don't translate that to French Pete??

Amour if :shock: :shock:


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## yetloh (18 Nov 2015)

Tetsuaiga":kizv3ly2 said:


> Personally it wouldnt worry me. Its not like you're eating the wood, i often eat the berries but of course not the seed.


 Very wise, the seed is the most toxic part of all.

Jim


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## Tetsuaiga (18 Nov 2015)

Yes someone once told me that because someone chipped the seed when trying to eat one it caused them to enter a coma. It sounds pretty exaggerated to me but I still found it quite a scary by the story. The seed seperates very easily, the berry itself is very soft and goopy which means you dont need to use your teeth to eat it, like other seeded fruiits.

If i ever mention it to someone I make sure to mention how the seed is dangerous, even though it would probably actually just pass through you.


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## Tetsuaiga (18 Nov 2015)

AJB Temple":2q77yzwl said:


> Honestly chaps...Yew seeds are known to be seriously toxic and easting the berries risks seed ingestion. Even if you are careful, the child seeing you may not be aware that crunching the seed (which otherwise passes through the body harmlessly) can be fatal at the level of 3 seeds (for an adult). Why take an unnecessary risk?
> 
> All parts of the Yew contain toxins. It is quite obviously unsuitable as a chopping board. Get some nice walnut or maple!



That's something I hadn't really though of so a good point. I'll just have to make sure i'm secretive about it =P, there usually arn't kids about anyway so it hasn't come up yet.


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## RobinBHM (18 Nov 2015)

Ive not thought about it before, but my village walk with the dog takes me past a few yew trees. Last weekend volunteers were sweeping leaves at the church and one lady was sweeping the path which was totally covered in yew berries. Of course all the berries were splitting open and I guess quite a few seeds are now left on the ground.

Im thinking I may best to avoid letting my dog walk over this area in case she gets any seeds stuck in her paws, which might then get chewed.

Grapes surprisingly, are poisonous to dogs, along with raisins.


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## Water-Mark (18 Nov 2015)

Yew gave its name (taxus baccatta) to the field of toxicology due to its poisonous nature.

It's also (ironically) known by pagans, druids and later by christians as the tree of life.
Hence its use in grave yards. The tree regenerates by growing new shafts along side the original trunk so the plant may be hundreds of years old but the tree you're looking at may only actually years old.
This is why you often see what appear to be healthy trees with large cavities in the trunk.

It was this ability that led many to believe it the dead were reborn as part of the tree.

There is a yew tree some where i forget believed to pre date the bible.

None of this relevant to chopping boards though.

If you could get a couple of small sheilds or plaques out of them they are popular for mounting swords and medieval arrow heads etc.


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## Sgian Dubh (18 Nov 2015)

Water-Mark":2pljcu1w said:


> There is a yew tree some where i forget believed to pre date the bible.


I suspect you have in mind The Fortingall Yew, Perthshire. Its age is estimated at anywhere between 2000 and 5000 years old, but it is more likely to be nearer the lower estimate than the higher estimate. In the 1700s some estimates put its circumference at 56 feet (17 metres), but today the centre of the trunk is gone above ground level due to a mixture of souvenir hunters taking parts of it in the 1800s and the depredations of age. The remaining parts are still healthy although its appearance now resembles several smaller trees rather one large one.

This is it. Slainte.


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## chipmunk (19 Nov 2015)

Not sure whether you saw this but for those berry eaters (braver than me) the Fortinghall yew is not the man it once was...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-34700033 ;-)

Jon


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## Phil Pascoe (19 Nov 2015)

"Their seeds will be included in a project to conserve the genetic diversity of yew trees around the world." Interesting.
Actually, all the Irish yews in the world are supposed to be clones of an original sport.


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## chipmunk (19 Nov 2015)

That certainly seems to be supported by this article...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/4791834/It-has-to-be-yew.html

...but for anyone interested in the timber Irish yews are not a lot of good IMHO.
No bole - all branchwood.
Jon


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## swb58 (3 Dec 2017)

An old topic I know, but so is the wood. It sounds like I'd be more at risk turning an egg cup than the end user. 

Feel free to comment please.


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## Jonzjob (3 Dec 2017)

I've turned a fair amount of yew and found it a lovely wood to work with. I can assure you that there's nnnnnnnothinggg rong wiv ne :shock: 

Seriously, it is a lovely wood to turn and like all woods, if it is very dry and causes dust then wear a dust mask. I have to admit, going back to the OP. If I make a chopping board I would use a more suitable wood. Beech comes to mind and make it end grain. That way the fibres don't get cut about.


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