Question about Walnut countertops and allergy
11 years ago
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- 11 years ago
- 11 years ago
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Comments (7)I feel for you and for your son. Both my kids had bad asthma, my son had severe respiratory allergies and my daughter had life-threatening reactions to walnuts and pecans(even if the allergens were aerosolized by someone eating them near her). They are 26 and 24 now, and those problems are markedly reduced. It sounds like he is reacting to histamine in certain foods. Histamine is a key chemical in our body's allergic reactions but is also found in various foods. His reactions are typical for an 'allergic person's' response to those foods. Typically a true allergic reaction to a food, not just exposure to dietary histamines, is much more severe-but these reactions like your son gets are often labeled as an 'allergic reaction'. Typically milder symptoms like his will respond to one of the anti-histamines, and the degree of the reaction is dependent on how much of the food is consumed, what else is consumed with some histamine in it, and how much other allergic and asthmatic reactions are already going on. Best thing is really avoidance for now, antihistamines as needed, and possibly consider allergy desensitization shots with a real Allergist for his respiratory allergies which often helps asthma significantly in a highly allergic person. My understanding is that shots are not really helpful for 'food allergies', just for the respiratory allergies like pollen, mold, etc. I linked a nice explanation below that I found on line-not sure about all of the writer's conclusions at the end or the book promoted. From reading your posts I have noted that you really research things well for your orchard and I am sure you are even more concerned for you son. If you have any questions for me I can answer them here or by email. Good luck with those allergic symptoms. Here is a link that might be useful: histamine in foods...See Morequestion about walnut c-top thickness and edge treatment
Comments (1)We're doing similar -- 3 cm. white marble on perimeter and walnut with ogee edge on the island. Builder told me yesterday that walnut will be slightly less thick than the marble but he claims the height differences shouldn't be noticeable (I forget the exact thickness of the wood in inches). It is my understanding the the ogee edge should make the walnut look more substantial. (We are going with 1/4" pencil edge for marble on perimeter, I think.) Out of curiosity, and if you don't mind sharing, what was the quote for your island top? Our builder said it would be $600-650 for our 2 ft. x 8 ft. island top in walnut plank with ogee edge, but I haven't seen that quote in writing yet....See MoreSlight Cupping in new walnut countertop
Comments (18)Wood is a very anisotropic material. That means it does not have the same properties in all directions. Wood barely changes dimension along the direction of the figure (what would be height in the tree). It does change across the figure (parallel to the ground) and if you are on a line that goes towards the center of the tree (radial) the movement is less than on a line more parallel to the growth rings (tangential). If you made a perect cube from solid wood, as soon as the moisture content changes it will no longer be a perfect cube. If the mopisture content returns to the same level as when the shape was cut, the wood will revert back to a perfect cube. These shape and size changes never stop in wood. They will occur over and over as the moisture content varies. If you look at Figure 3-3 in the Wood Engineering Handbook it shows how the shapes change, laid against a trees structure. There is not a lot you can do to prevent the movement, so a lot of things are done to accomodate it. By using large panlels ofg wood that have room to move, and smaller stronger pieces to make a frame to hold the panel the movement of the who;e structure is reduced greatly. A 30 inch wide frame and panel door is only going to widen as the thick stiles on each vertical edge change size. Since they are a fraction of the door width, the movement in this direction is greatly reduced. The panel is free to change size in the grooves it is trapped in because it is not tight. Extra room is left between the edges of the panel and the bottom of the grooves to allow for changes in size. If the panel expands excessively, it can simply force the doors rails and stiles (the thicker framing) apart. If you try to fasten wood to something that does not change the same way in the same direction (even cross grain construction) something is going to give. Trim moldings are often fastened at one place to allow movement of the material they are fastened onto without splitting the molding or the panel of wood it is applied to. Plenty of damage occurs as wood shrinks between fastened points. Wood is much stronger in compression than tension. When the wood dries out and shrinks between to fasteners that do not move it can split. Hardwood floor strips are only fastened on one side. The other side is held down by the tongue and groove of the boards. This allows each board to change width as the moisture content varies. Dry with open joints during heating season with low humidity, damper and tighter during a cooling season with higher humidity. Wider board move more since the movement is a percentage of the board width....See MoreFinishing walnut countertop and tabletops
Comments (9)sweetandrew- Disclaimer: I'm not a Waterlox fan, so take this FWIW. We used Epifanes, a marine grade sealer on our counters and have been very pleased with the results. We have wood counters around our undermount main sink and pantry sink. The counters are southern yellow pine (bowling alley in a former life) trimmed in walnut and were installed 5 years ago. The finish around the sinks has held up exceptionally well, no water has infiltrated at all, and we are not careful types at all, have a dish drainer on the counter at all times (usually full of dripping dishes, let's be honest) and have had water sitting on it overnight with no problems at all. The Epifanes distributor is in Maine, and they are very helpful and will spend lots of time on the phone discussing their different products. We ended up with the matte finish product in the kitchen and the gloss in the pantry, just wanted to mix it up a little. The products we used are food safe and while they are stinky to apply, they dried well and we haven't had to reapply, and it's been 4 years. Here's a pic of the glossy version in the pantry: And the matte version in the kitchen: Good luck- sandyponder Here is a link that might be useful: Epifanes...See More- 11 years ago
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