warning about burning Yew logs

[onionbargee]

A friend of mine recently got ill from cutting and burning Yew logs, so here's a warning pasted from the interwebnet.....

 

 

 

 

 

Yew: This burns slowly, with fierce heat. The scent is pleasant. Another carving favorite. Note that every part of this plant, except for the fruit contains poisonous taxines. Death to livestock after ingestion of this plant is well documented and here are reported cases of suicides from ingestion of leaves. Sawdust is dangerous if ingested or inhaled. The Romans reported death after ingestion of wine stored in Yew vessels, yet Yew cups, bowls and plates are still very popular - not that this makes them any less poisonous. Taxines are carried in smoke and the safety of using this wood for cooking or heat is questionable.

[Stormbringer]

A friend of mine recently got ill from cutting and burning Yew logs, so here's a warning pasted from the interwebnet.....

 

 

 

 

 

Yew: This burns slowly, with fierce heat. The scent is pleasant. Another carving favorite. Note that every part of this plant, except for the fruit contains poisonous taxines. Death to livestock after ingestion of this plant is well documented and here are reported cases of suicides from ingestion of leaves. Sawdust is dangerous if ingested or inhaled. The Romans reported death after ingestion of wine stored in Yew vessels, yet Yew cups, bowls and plates are still very popular - not that this makes them any less poisonous. Taxines are carried in smoke and the safety of using this wood for cooking or heat is questionable.

 

Cheers

That was informative - I knew ingestion of yew was harmful but have never really thought about the smoke !

Mind yew (sorry lol) - I have a diesel stove so haven't done much wood burning study....

 

Andy

[Mac of Cygnet]

A friend of mine recently got ill from cutting and burning Yew logs, so here's a warning pasted from the interwebnet.....

 

 

 

 

 

Yew: This burns slowly, with fierce heat. The scent is pleasant. Another carving favorite. Note that every part of this plant, except for the fruit contains poisonous taxines. Death to livestock after ingestion of this plant is well documented and here are reported cases of suicides from ingestion of leaves. Sawdust is dangerous if ingested or inhaled. The Romans reported death after ingestion of wine stored in Yew vessels, yet Yew cups, bowls and plates are still very popular - not that this makes them any less poisonous. Taxines are carried in smoke and the safety of using this wood for cooking or heat is questionable.

 

Well oddly enough I have just put a large yew log on the woodburner. I expect it to last the night. I burn yew whenever it is available; it takes an age to dry out if cut live (there is a large stand behind the house) but it is like gold as far as fuel is concerned - dense, long-burning with lots of heat. Rhododendron is similar. I hope your internet extract doesn't encourage anyone to try the fruit, as it's only the fleshy part is non-toxic - the seed is as poisonous as the rest, but very hard, so apparently able to pass through the digestive system of birds unscathed (no mean feat). This is how the seeds are dispersed.

 

I've never suffered any ill-effects from chainsawing, handling or burning yew. I wouldn't like to inhale the smoke of any wood, never mind yew.

 

The said log is at this very moment burning with such heat that the back boiler is producing some rather alarming noises, even with everything shut right down.

 

Mac

 

Edited 'cause CAPS LOCK got hit by mistake.

Edited December 11, 2011 by Mac of Cygnet

[dor]

Don't use it for a yewl log this Christmas then.

[Smelly]

Well oddly enough I have just put a large yew log on the woodburner. I expect it to last the night. I burn yew whenever it is available; it takes an age to dry out if cut live (there is a large stand behind the house) but it is like gold as far as fuel is concerned - dense, long-burning with lots of heat. Rhododendron is similar. I hope your internet extract doesn't encourage anyone to try the fruit, as it's only the fleshy part is non-toxic - the seed is as poisonous as the rest, but very hard, so apparently able to pass through the digestive system of birds unscathed (no mean feat). This is how the seeds are dispersed.

 

I've never suffered any ill-effects from chainsawing, handling or burning yew. I wouldn't like to inhale the smoke of any wood, never mind yew.

 

The said log is at this very moment burning with such heat that the back boiler is producing some rather alarming noises, even with everything shut right down.

 

Mac

 

Edited 'cause CAPS LOCK got hit by mistake.

 

Funnily enough I've heard cautions about toxic smoke from Rhodedendron as well...

[blackrose]

I've just acquired a load of logs from a neighbour's garden. No idea what they are and neither does he. I guess I'd better improve my log identification skills...

[onionbargee]

I've just acquired a load of logs from a neighbour's garden. No idea what they are and neither does he. I guess I'd better improve my log identification skills...

 

 

Yew has needles, and red berries with a visable seed inside, the wood has a red tinge to to it, brown flaky bark, and usually branches out right from nearly the base, it's a pig to chainsaw, being full of knots. And Is definatly toxic, though i'll admit in a well sealed stove you are not getting any smoke, your just poisioning your neigbours. The main contact with it's poisions is chainsaw dust and handling the split logs. Just wear an NBC suit ! ( nuclear Biological chemical warfare )

 

 

 

Oh and Laburnum is poisionous too, but it's never a big tree, and mostly in hedgerows. this has a smooth black bark, and seed pods, like mini pea pods.

Edited December 11, 2011 by onionbargee

[blackrose]

Yew has needles, and red berries with a visable seed inside, the wood has a red tinge to to it, brown flaky bark, and usually branches out right from nearly the base, it's a pig to chainsaw, being full of knots. And Is definatly toxic, though i'll admit in a well sealed stove you are not getting any smoke, your just poisioning your neigbours. The main contact with it's poisions is chainsaw dust and handling the split logs. Just wear an NBC suit ! ( nuclear Biological chemical warfare )

 

I haven't seen any berries or needles so I should be ok. I'll watch out for it in future though, thanks.

[tree monkey]

I haven't seen any berries or needles so I should be ok. I'll watch out for it in future though, thanks.

yew laural rhododendrum and laburnum all are poisonous and can cause issues if the smoke in inhaled, but unless you are stood breathing in the fumes for sometime i can not imagine there to be any real danger.

 

burning yew and laburnum though is a crying bloody shame though, worth a penny or two when sold to a turner

[Mac of Cygnet]

I haven't seen any berries or needles so I should be ok. I'll watch out for it in future though, thanks.

 

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

The oldest tree in the UK is a yew Fortingall YYew growing in a churchyard in Scotland. They are often found in churchyards as these were formerly the only enclosed areas to which free-roaming stock had no access.

[sebrof]

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

The oldest tree in the UK is a yew Fortingall YYew growing in a churchyard in Scotland. They are often found in churchyards as these were formerly the only enclosed areas to which free-roaming stock had no access.

 

Saw it a couple of years ago. It's quite impressive, but has seen better days.

[alan_fincher]

I guess I'd better improve my log identification skills...

Something I have always tried to avoid doing when forced to visit that sanitary station at Stonebridge!

[ditchcrawler]

Yew needles are used in cancer treatment see here

[tillergirl]

I believe in medieval times the yew was planted at the entrance to graveyards but i expect most were there before the churches were. It is said that it would keep the dead away from the living hence it was known as the death or dead tree. Ph and of course yew wood makes excellent bows as its very flexible.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

I've had a look around the ole 'tinternet and it seems to me that burning Yew wood is probably no more dangerous than burning any other wood.

 

The active ingredient in Yew is Taxine, this apparently doesn't do your heart much good. On the other hand it is probably very inadvisable to inhale any wood smoke in a confined since they all contain a variety of carcinogens the worst of which seems to be dioxin (I'm old enough to remember the Seveso Disaster!) most of the toxins found in tobacco will also be found in wood smoke. I would also suggest that if your boat is being contaminated with wood smoke then it is probably being contaminated with carbon monoxide and you really should get your chimney looked at!

 

I am also curious since you say that your friend became ill from cutting and burning Yew logs, perhaps it was the cutting that did the damage? Was the wood dry or damp? Most wood dust will cause respiratory problems which is why wood turners use respirators.

[onionbargee]

I pasted a quote from the tinternet on my original post,which proved my point, which internet did you search ?

 

I'm just telling you all it IS poisonous, to some degree.

[tree monkey]

I pasted a quote from the tinternet on my original post,which proved my point, which internet did you search ?

 

I'm just telling you all it IS poisonous, to some degree.

 

It is poisonous and although i wouldnt run screaming from the smoke i wouldnt stand and and sniff

[dazzaar]

Hi All.

 

I hear this same concern in the bushcraft community, the truth is all smoke is toxic. which is why we should burn dry wood and make a fire in stages from small pieces to large pies. Remember, its the gas that burns.  the wood is heated by the flame which releases the gases from its constituent parts mainly carbon hydrogen and oxygen. is yew any worse? this article from kew suggests not really Analysis of yew wood | Kew

it is our responsibility to our selves and others around us to build and burn clean fires which means being aware of the smoke that is being emitted and adjusting our burn accordingly.

try not to breathe in any smoke guys, look after yourselves.

 

Edit.

It would appear from the Kew studies that he taxines (the poisonous compounds) are present in larger quantities in the bark, cambium and leaves, so washing hands after handling theses parts or the sawdust before eating would seem like a sensible precaution. 

Edited March 5 by dazzaar
adding extra context

[David Mack]

Another AI bot post?

[nicknorman]

Just now, David Mack said:

Another AI bot post?

No I don't think so.

[Alan de Enfield]

 

Welcome Mr AI - after 12 years you kindly repeat the information in the original post.

Go and find something new to talk about.

[MtB]

29 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

No I don't think so.

 

If it is, they are getting better. 

 

Typos like 'pies' instead of 'pieces' in the post suggest to me a human hand. But that is trivially easy for an AI to incorporate once its masters realise it fools people.

 

Waking up a 13-year old thread with only generic stuff to say on the other hand, strongly suggests AI.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5 by MtB
Add a bit.

[dazzaar]

wow, and I thought the Kew link may have been of  interest! (grabs his coat and leaves:-))

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Can we end this speculation as to which member is human and which is an AI. Seems to come up with increasing regularity.

New members are on moderator approval for their first couple of posts. We make enquiries of some of these and they don't get approved for general viewing if we aren't satisfied that they are human. There are AI posters about. We get some of them. There is a middle ground, where we don't know who is human and who is an AI from a single post. Speculating about the humanity of a new member is very off putting to that person. If you have concerns, then report the post and the moderators can look in to it. There can be all sorts of reasons why a first post can appear "off", from English not being their first language, through to cognitive differences, to to the wish to give a detailed technical answer.

Once AI's start going boating and have some valid experience to contribute, then they won't be a problem. Until them, they are regurgitating information in their training data, with a sprinkling of making stuff up, which will degrade the usefulness of CWDF if it gets out of hand.

[MtB]

38 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

New members are on moderator approval for their first couple of posts. We make enquiries of some of these and they don't get approved for general viewing if we aren't satisfied that they are human.

 

 

In our defence, nobody knew that until now. 

 

This is very helpful as we now know new posters in particular have been looked over by a human bean before being permitted to post.