Wood Species - Black Hands stain

[Lowell Fuher]

Greetings. After many years of being absent, I'm back into turning, and I came across an issue with a bowl I had just turned. I believe the species is Decorative Cherry, or so I was told. After turning, I see my hands and arms are black from the turning and won't clean off very easily. The bowl turned out just as I had hoped, and once stained, it will be a nice piece for my wife. It has some really great grain patterns. Is the Cherry? Can I use a product on my hands to make clean-up easier?

BTW - I have started tagging my wood after I prepare it for drying so I know what it is and where I got it. My neighbors have been very generous.

Thanks in advance.

 

[hockenbery]

Try lemon juice.

Many woods make a black stain when tannins react with iron.
Sharpening puts iron particles on our skin.

Often the problem shows up as black stains on the wood too.
Lemon juice removes the stain.

We keep a bottle of real lemon in the freezer shop fridge.

Learning to turn so you are out of the line of fire will keep the stain on your fingers.

 

[Donna Banfield]

I don’t think that bowl is cherry. The pattern/grain you see is indicative of ambrosia streaks. It is caused by a bug infestation, that is common among many maple species.

 

[Bob Brown]

Oil the lathe bed

 

[Bill Boehme]

Many woods make a black stain when tannins react with iron.
Sharpening puts iron particles on our skin.

Often the problem shows up as black stains on the wood too.
Lemon juice removes the stain.

@hockenbery Citric acid or other acid such as vinegar will do the trick. I don’t think iron is a necessary ingredient for hands turning black. I sharpen my tools on a Tormek so no iron except on the magnet in the water trough. My hands get black stains from tannins, but maybe my skin is iron rich.

I agree with Donna. The wood is ambrosia maple.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Lowell, some woods will stain your hands black and as Al noted, lemon juice will take care of it on your hands and the wood. I also keep a big spray bottle of it in the garage frig and will spray the entire piece well before I put it up to dry. The obvious spots where the chuck was mounted are easy to spot right away but the small black freckles might take a while to show. Rub it around and the stain just fades away. Kinda fun to watch actually. I also spray my hands and rub it in to get rid of the stain.

Also, tagging is a definite must. I tag or write on everything I get. No way I can remember months later, especially when I picked up 2 or 3 batches of the same species from different places over several months time. It also helps being able to remember the story of where it came from for folks you give or sell it to. It makes a real difference.

 

[Lowell Fuher]

Lowell, some woods will stain your hands black and as Al noted, lemon juice will take care of it on your hands and the wood. I also keep a big spray bottle of it in the garage frig and will spray the entire piece well before I put it up to dry. The obvious spots where the chuck was mounted are easy to spot right away but the small black freckles might take a while to show. Rub it around and the stain just fades away. Kinda fun to watch actually. I also spray my hands and rub it in to get rid of the stain.

Also, tagging is a definite must. I tag or write on everything I get. No way I can remember months later, especially when I picked up 2 or 3 batches of the same species from different places over several months time. It also helps being able to remember the story of where it came from for folks you give or sell it to. It makes a real difference.

Thanks, Randy, and thanks, everybody. The juice will definitely become a mainstay in my woodshop. I am still determining where I would have gotten Ambrosia Maple. I know I have Pecan, Oak, Birch, Cherry, and some others upstairs,but the only Maple I have is in the outside storage.

Randy, as you said - tagging is a definite must.

I was worried about the strength of the bowl's sidewalls because of the bark coming from the pith, which you see in the picture, so I made them thicker than normal. But it turned out nice.

 

[hockenbery]

P

My hands get black stains from tannins, but maybe my skin is iron rich.

Probably your magnetic personality attractive iron atoms.

 

[Bill Boehme]

From the ScienceDirect website:

Tannins are phenolic compounds that are soluble in water and can form insoluble compounds by reacting with proteins or metal ions. They are found in various parts of plants and have applications in industries such as leather, wine, adhesives, and food.​

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Greetings. After many years of being absent, I'm back into turning, and I came across an issue with a bowl I had just turned. I believe the species is Decorative Cherry, or so I was told. After turning, I see my hands and arms are black from the turning and won't clean off very easily. The bowl turned out just as I had hoped, and once stained, it will be a nice piece for my wife. It has some really great grain patterns. Is the Cherry? Can I use a product on my hands to make clean-up easier?

BTW - I have started tagging my wood after I prepare it for drying so I know what it is and where I got it. My neighbors have been very generous.

Thanks in advance.

View attachment 64913

Lowell I do not believe you have any Cherry wood there, I do believe you have some Silver Maple, it has that slight pink color in it, nice bowl like that with the rounded edge.
I wonder if this piece comes from, or close by a crotch and the brown pith stains that are showing, not Ambrosia stain I believe, as there are no beetle openings as far as I can see.
Like shown in the picture below.
You can compare your wood with the Cherry below.

Silver Maple infected with Ambrosia beetle and stained, the beetle openings are clearly to see, note the light pink color of that Maple board.

 

[Lowell Fuher]

BINGO! Yes, my daughter's neighbor had a major part of a maple tree come down in a wind storm, and another neighbor two houses down has a Silver Maple that lost a big limb and I helped clean that up and it ended up in my wood storage. I had forgotten about that. Thanks Leo, your spot on!

 

[John Tisdale]

Buy a container of Fast Orange at your local auto parts house - great for epoxy users too