Brand New MDF Terrain Company… Warmill

Hi all, Harry from Warmill Here to say Hi!

For anyone who has any concerns about the safety of MDF and our terrain, there are a couple of points to note:

1) Any activity that creates particulates (dust) can present a health hazard. If you sand anything strictly speaking you should wear a dust mask or be in a ventilated area. This goes for MDF, foam, plastic, resin, anything. Any particulate can cause an increased risk of cancer by irritating the cells that line the throat and lungs (mechanical rather than chemical damage), this is not unique to MDF.

2) The carcinogen in MDF is Formaldehyde which is used in the resin that binds the fibre together rather than the particles themselves. We use a brand of MDF that has a low formaldehyde proportion, but most MDF has a much lower level of formaldehyde in it nowadays. Furthermore, the manufacture of our terrain is carried out in a laser that has a vacuum bed that extracts the particles and fumes made by the lasering process. As Andy pointed out, the cutting has been done for you, you won’t need to do any.

3) Pretty much anything can pose a health risk if you use it irresponsibly. Superglue for sticking your models together can be a health risk. Spray priming your models can be a health risk. Using a scalpel to trim your mould lines presents a major health risk (seriously, most injuries in model making are scalpel related! ). Swallowing a plastic mini will damage you.

The point is, MDF is no more dangerous than anything else if you use it sensibly. This is why it is still so widely used! You’re no more likely to get cancer from having a piece of our terrain on your table than you are from having an MDF cupboard door in your kitchen or touching some MDF in a DIY store. It can present a health risk if you’re exposed to large amounts of dust for long periods of time, but this is avoided by simply wearing a dust mask and is far from unique to MDF. ( pigeon-fancier’s lung anyone? ).

Me and Ed both come from a modelmaking course and are in the industry, ( I also studied cancer biology at Bristol Uni briefly! ) and MDF is so widely used simply because with a bit of common sense the health risk is negligible. It’s far from the new asbestos, which was so dangerous because it would break up at the slightest touch.

Anyway, apologies for the wall of text! We’ll add a working with MDF section to the website and a safety warning to the packaging, but seriously, don’t worry!

Harry – Warmill

tl;dr: don’t worry about it, just don’t be stupid.