Need info on Pacific Yew

drl · Post by **drl** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 12:24 pm

An old friend gave me a piece of Pacific Yew. About 6 inches long, 1 inch thick and about 2 inches wide. It has some bark and sap wood along the edge (about 1/2 inch). About the only thing I can get out of it is perhaps 2 to 3 pen blanks. Not having worked with yew before are there any precautions/hazards with turning and sanding this material? I saw a DVD where they were using yew to make long bows and I don't recall hearing any precautions other than the usually dust protection when sanding. Thanks.
Regards,
Dwight

shipwright · Post by **shipwright** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 12:45 pm

I have used had a quite a bit of Pacific yew in the past. I was making a table and chairs out of it back in the 80's but had to stop after the table and one chair because the sanding dust on the lathe was giving me severe asthma (which I do not usually suffer from). Wear a good respirator.

Paul M

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:19 pm

Here's a PDF chart to look at.

[ATTACH]17167[/ATTACH]

shipwright · Post by **shipwright** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 3:25 pm

Thanks for that Beeg. It would explain the asthma I guess. There was no google to look this stuff up on back then. Ain't technology grand?

Paul M

gchapman · Post by **gchapman** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:52 pm

I ran into the same issues when making a baby crib from Sassafras which shows the same toxicity as the Yew family.

drl · Post by **drl** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:56 pm

Thanks for the heads-up!!! Sounds like some not so nice stuff. I'll increase my precautions.
Regards,
Dwight