Uses of Yew… Poisonous? Safe to burn?
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Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Wood and Wood Preparation / Uses of Yew… Poisonous? Safe to burn?
Folks,
I have some yew, from my daughter-in-law’s parents house.
I’m making a small box from it as a wedding gift…
I’ve also made a spoon.
I hear that yew can be considered poisonous for utensils. I’ve finished the spoon with a mineral oil, (meant for chopping boards).
How poisonous is yew? Coated like this would it be safe to use, for example as a salad serving spoon?
Also, are the many small offcuts I’ve got safe to burn in a house fire?
Thanks for any observaations.
Regards,
Matt
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Hej Matt,
Don’t believe there is a definitive answer to your question.
[url]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29363354/[/url]
links you to the abstract of a review article, which finds that significant (treatment requiring) yew (taxine) poisoning appears to be rare – a conclusion shared by The Swedish Poisons Information Centre.
A [i]non[/i]-referenced statement in Wikipedia gives 50 grams of the needles as a possible lethal dose.
While taxine (the most relevant toxin in yew) is not soluble in water, it will dissolve in lipids, of which mineral oil is one. Others are the oils often used in salads. I don’t know what amount of taxine that can be ingested from a salad. What I do know is that small children have a tendency to chew on a lot of things; and chewing on a yew spoon probably can result in a relevant ingestion.
Yew contains a lot of extractives, so perhaps not burn it.