Think twice about synthetic wood!

[Mothman]

I know I said I was using synthetic wood and all that and how great it was, but having built the fuselage, wingstubs and engine nacelles for the Dragon Rapide in what has turned out to be the less hard stuff, I have to warn against its use unless you can spend your working life in an atomic level face mask or do everything outside in a good unidirectional breeze.
I have been coughing all day and can even "taste" the incredibly fine dust all the time.
God knows what it's doing internally, but it has gathered in my clothes like paint and resists even a vacuum cleaner.
I therefore will not be using it any more.  This less-than-the-hardest type is still a micro foam and its dust is far finer than I've ever encountered before.

The problem is, what to use?  Most hardwoods are just as dangerous in dust form.  Perhaps though they don't produce such a fine dust. All my patternmaking has been in brass with few exceptions before, but this model is way too big to be done in brass and would be too expensive!

The main purpose of this post is to warn against Ureol and presumably all the others which do much the same job.

Be VERY CAREFUL.

Martin

[Balsabasher]

Martin this is not the first time that I have heard this about synthetic woods,in the past I have used it for the odd set of wheel spats etc but nothing as large as your Rapide project,it does frighten you when things like this happen and I cannot stand wearing masks and doubt their effectiveness anyway ?
Goodness knows how much balsa dust I have inhaled over the years as well ? as you know it is so light that it travels everywhere,there are risks in everything and your remarks about Ureol are akin to micro balloons as well,with these you only have to open the container to see the microscopic dust that rises into the air,and that stuff makes you wheeze a  bit as well.
All these things like asbestos are fine when inert but once you start the sanding operation then problems arise,as you quite rightly say be very careful and lessen the risks.
Barry.