Hi Frank and All:

>The name sounds as though this is is one of the copper based wood
>preservatives.  Are there no toxicity issues with this?

Although I use a different brand, I believe the active ingredient is copper
napthenate.  I am a bit ashamed that I can not give you any authoritative
answer to your question on toxicity, since I use quite a lot of this.  I
buy it in 20 litre pails of 8% concentration.  We mix it with varsol and
raw linseed oil  and dip woodenware.  For stands we use 2% copper and for
supers we mix it to 1%.

I can give you the following information FWIW:

The Mann Lake bee supply company sells it for use on bee equipment
(recommending 1% on supers I believe, you would have to check their catalog).

It is one of the least toxic wood perservatives, being allowed on some
types of agricultural wood products, including some greenhouse wood.

In my experience it is not obnoxious on your skin (although we use rubber
aprons and long gloves when dipping, but do it for a long period of time
and some splashing is inevitable).

In my former work as a dairy farmer I used a product of the same ingredient
(copper napthenate), much more concentrated (37.5 %) , called Koppertox I
believe, which we applied directly and undiluted to the feet and wounds of
cows for hoofrot and skin/wound treatment.  I  would also get this very
concentrated liquid on my skin sometimes, as some cows rebel vigorously to
having their wounded tender feet attended to.  I never noticed any ill effects.

regards
Stan