Black hands
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- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 7 months ago by Matt McGrane.
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Oak turns some people’s hands black if they work with it. Yeah, I’m one of them. Does anyone know if maple can do this? I see hints of it, but can’t quite decide. Usually, for oak, my fingers are stained and there can be stains on the wood. this time, it’s just my fingertips and edges of the palms, not on the wood, and it isn’t very strong.
Anyone know? I guess I could see if lemon juice takes it off. That would answer the question. Just curious.
16 September 2015 at 12:28 am #130530@ed – Ed, oaks have high tannin (tannic acid) content and some oaks have more than others. I don’t think that is true for maples. Redwoods also have high tannin content.
I was just hiking over the weekend in a local state park and there was an informational poster about “tan oaks”, a very common tree in the park. It turns out that the tan oak bark was (and maybe still is) used in the “tanning” of leather. The two words have the same root from an old German word for oak. Animal skins are “tanned” to process them into leather.
What I don’t know is whether or not the tannins change the color of things like animal hides or human skin.
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