# Is redwood food safe?



## McAldo (23 Nov 2013)

My wife keeps asking me to turn a chopping board and some other food safe items for the kitchen.
I have a bunch of redwood from my neighbour, so I looked it up
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-artic ... -toxicity/

Redwood irritant, sensitizer, asthma, HP, NPC (rare)

So, it sounds pretty nasty, even cancerous.
Just I am not clear if the level of toxicity refers to the finished items or only to the dust while working with it.
And if applying a finish can make at least some types of wood food safe.
I have some chestnut food safe finish which I quite liked on the items I tried it on.


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## Zeddedhed (23 Nov 2013)

I'd imagine that all that nasty stuff is due to the dust. Once you've worked the wood and it's effectively inert I can't see how it would hurt you.
I once attended an HSE sponsored training class about Asbestos, and this guy was banging on about how it's only the dust or fibres that are harmful once breathed in. To make a point he had a small sheet of Asbestos and had a sandwich on it, which he then ate.
I wouldn't try it myself, and he may well be dead by now, but I wouldn't think a redwood chopping will hurt anyone unless you clobber them with it.


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## hazel (23 Nov 2013)

all the kitchen stuff I make I do out of sycamore as that is usually the adviced wood for food items. However, as has been said I think most of the stuff yoy list for red wood is during working, and you can buy foodsafe oils which I assume can make most woods ok, ,or least that's what the tin implies


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## MMUK (24 Nov 2013)

Zeddedhed":3ay7hq2s said:


> I'd imagine that all that nasty stuff is due to the dust. Once you've worked the wood and it's effectively inert I can't see how it would hurt you.
> I once attended an HSE sponsored training class about Asbestos, and this guy was banging on about how it's only the dust or fibres that are harmful once breathed in. To make a point he had a small sheet of Asbestos and had a sandwich on it, which he then ate.
> I wouldn't try it myself, and he may well be dead by now, but I wouldn't think a redwood chopping will hurt anyone unless you clobber them with it.



The guy was perfectly correct. There's been a lot of scare-mongering around the subject of asbestos. Asbestos poses absolutely no health risk whatsoever in sheet form. The risk only occurs when it is broken or cut, the airborne particles can be breathed in and they attach themselves to your lungs and asophagus. It's these fibre particles that pose the risk as they can cause cancer. Wearing appropriate respiratory equipment with the proper filtration will remove 99% of the risk, the other 1% is removed by using a proper collection system to take in and collect any particles in the air.

Put simply, as long as you follow guidelines regarding ppe, asbestos poses no health risk at all.


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## paulm (24 Nov 2013)

Redwood wouldn't be my choice for the kind of things you've mentioned, too soft and widely spaced porous growth rings, if we are thinking of the same kind of timber, so not my choice on practical/usage terms rather than safety.

Sycamore or beech are more usual choices, bit bland but fit for the purposes mentioned, walnut and cherry are good too if you can get some. Not an exhaustive list, I'm sure there are others I haven't thought about at the moment, but probably largely hardwoods rather than redwood or other softwoods ?

Cheers, Paul


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## tekno.mage (24 Nov 2013)

Sycamore and beech were traditionally used for kitchen items as they will not "taint" (ie impart any unwanted taste to) food. For a chopping board, other woods can be used without danger, but may not perform as well as the traditional materials - using Oak would be a bad idea as it would blunt knives rather quickly and if wet the tannins in the wood will react with steel and leave nasty black marks all over the chopping board! I personally make chopping boards from Sycamore, but the one I made to use on a day to day basis in my own kitchen is made of ash and works perfectly well. I've seen "pine" chopping boards for sale in the past, so I'd imagine red wood would be similar - but may not last as long as a hardwood board?


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## McAldo (25 Nov 2013)

Thanks everybody for all the advice !
Actually, I have some walnut, even if very fresh and not as large as the redwood logs.
I guess I could give it a try with the redwood first, for a practise piece, and then use the walnut for the real thing.
I never really considered that oak might be hard enough to blunt knives. It makes sense though, good to know.
Thanks again!


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## Phil Pascoe (25 Nov 2013)

The main reasons that oak isn't really suitable is that it is coarse grained so it would trap dirt and that it's ring porous, so any liquid would soak into it quite quickly. If it blunted your knife, though, I'd get a new knife.


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## KimG (25 Nov 2013)

I've used Mahogany for chopping boards on several occasions, got two in the kitchen now that have done 20 years service, excellent material for the job.

Sycamore is very nice too, fine grained. 

Like Phil, I seriously doubt Oak would blunt a knife any more than anything else, but it would not be practical for the reasons Phil stated, plus, it has a tendency to warp, and it could very well react if it got wet by turning black, it has a lot of tannin in it.


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## tekno.mage (25 Nov 2013)

KimG":3brtwytg said:


> Like Phil, I seriously doubt Oak would blunt a knife any more than anything else, but it would not be practical for the reasons Phil stated, plus, it has a tendency to warp, and it could very well react if it got wet by turning black, it has a lot of tannin in it.



My comment regarding oak and blunting of knives comes from personal experience of what oak does to my turning tools when compared to a softer wood like sycamore  I doubt one use on an oak board would blunt a kitchen knife, but repeated use would probably blunt one faster than use on a sycamore board would


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## chipmunk (26 Nov 2013)

McAldo":3qihcost said:


> http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-allergies-and-toxicity/
> 
> Redwood irritant, sensitizer, asthma, HP, NPC (rare)



I think you may be confusing your redwoods. 

The redwood we get from the timber merchants here in the UK is Scots pine and nothing to do with Siquoias in the US. Scots pine would be just fine for eating off - it was used for treen for centuries.

HTH
Jon


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## McAldo (27 Nov 2013)

chipmunk":1z4096r1 said:


> McAldo":1z4096r1 said:
> 
> 
> > http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-allergies-and-toxicity/
> ...



Thanks Jon,
I'll look again into it and perhaps I can post some pictures here for help with identification.
But when I googled the species in the genus, I found this tall guy which looks very similar to the tree I got the wood from, at least as far as I can remember:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoiaden ... nteum#Uses

Are scots pine trees similar?

Aldo


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## chipmunk (27 Nov 2013)

Hi Aldo,
Take a look at these...
http://www.fortimber.demon.co.uk/redwood.htm
http://www.sykestimber.co.uk/timber/european-redwood.html
HTH
Jon


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## McAldo (27 Nov 2013)

chipmunk":21f5iqm7 said:


> Hi Aldo,
> Take a look at these...
> http://www.fortimber.demon.co.uk/redwood.htm
> http://www.sykestimber.co.uk/timber/european-redwood.html
> ...



Thanks Jon.
Pinus marittimus, the sea side Pine  A fitting name, it actually brings me back to my childhood, as it's pretty ubiquitous in the Italian island I come from. I didn't know the English name was Scots Pine.
But it's different from my redwood.
They are both resinous but mine has a soft, spongy bark, instead of dry and flaky as the scots pine, and a reddish tone to it. It's actually quite nice to work with.


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## chipmunk (28 Nov 2013)

Ahhh, that's not Scots Pine then - sorry. It was me who had the wrong redwood!   

So it probably isn't food safe then as you said in your OP.
Jon


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