Advice is not to as it has an acrid smoke that taints food so I personally wouldn't.

I have used it dry, to burn on the fire, without any problem. certainly if the wood is used for turning, the dust is damaging to the delicate lung structure. so if you turn the wood wear a dust face mask.

Just wondering why you want to fell it.

Someone told me how he'd decided to remove a laburnum so his young daughter couldn't get to the seeds. After he felled it the phone rang and when he got back to the garden said daughter was munching on the seeds that he'd brought within reach.

If he'd left it alone, there wouldn't have been a problem.

It seems to me there is a lot of worry over laburnum trees when many, many other plants are poisonous too. As children we were taught not to pick or eat certain plants and never to eat berries or seeds without checking with a parent. We used to climb the laburnum tree, but we knew we mustn't eat the seeds. We played a lot in laurel hedges making camps.....maybe our parents didn't know they were poisonous! Luckily, we don't seem to have come to any harm.

All parts of any laburnum are poisonous, if ingested, and the pods are particularly harmful to dogs and children that break the seeds in chewing. Chewing on the seed pods, not the seed, is not known to be harmful. Breaking into the seeds is poisonous. As with Sumach, euphorbia, cotinus etc I always recommend gloves when handling cut green, ie with sap, wood which is a well-known skin irritant.

Many thanks - I will proceed with the recommended caution. Your collective advice is much apprciated. Pauline

I know this thread is old, but I was wondering what you did with your laburnam tree? I know someone who would be interested in the wood!