Wood and Poison oak

[wvwoodchuck]

I enjoy cutting and splitting wood. However, I don't enjoy the poison oak that seems to grow up the trees I'm taking down. I'm the kind that can look at it and get it.
Even all covered up, I still get it. Right now it's on my forehead and around my wrists. A month or so ago, it was on my neck. I really hate that stuff!! Does anyone else fight with this in the winter too?

 

[trailrated]

I don't cut wood with any vines on it period. I have a HUGE maple that fell on my property, its got fuzzy vines all over it. It fell 2 years ago and and its still sitting there. I won't do it, not worth it.

 

[amateur cutter]

Yep, stuffs a pain the butt. I'll usually cut it with an axe in the spring or summer & let it dry as much as possible before winter cutting. Otherwise I wear gloves & long sleeves & peel it off the tree before I put the saw into it. Still get it occasionally, but not nearly as bad as hittin it with the chain. That just splatters the oil everywhere. Any vines are a pain to work around imo. but they're everywhere. Hazards of the outdoors I guess. Keep scratchin. A C

 

[Battenkiller]

I once sat in a patch of it when I was in the Boy Scouts. A scout leader called me out on my stupidity, but I've never been bothered in my life.

The good Lady BK is another story. She gets it when it's not even around. I have a bunch of logs with vines covering them. Haven't got a clue without the leaves on it. She wants to help me cut it up, thinks it's probably Virginia Creeper. Probably? No way! Her Mom was hospitalized twice with the stuff.

Bring out the Calamine and cut on, I guess.

 

[trailrated]

When leaves aren't visible, any tree with fuzzy vines, I stay away from.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I get it when I'm exposed, but there are ways to limit exposure.

This is what I do and I very rarely ever get it from cutting wood anymore.

If I encounter a tree with the vines I'll use the saw to cut them. If possible I use the top of the bar to throw the chips away from me. Then I peel all the vines off. Next, remove those gloves and put them directly into a plastic baggy, they will later go in the trash or the washing machine. Now you put new gloves on and start cutting again. Keep your wood gathering trip short, no more than 4 hours since your first exposure. Go home, and lather up head-to-toe with a good quality dish-soap. Scrub it in good, get it all lathered up good before you even get in the water. Then, get in the shower and wash it all off. If I've been exposed really bad I'll lather up again. Then shower as normal.

I do the shower routine every single time I think I may have possibly been exposed. This keeps me clear, I normally don't get it unless I was exposed without knowing it and I don't follow the above routine.

So in short, a known, positive exposure + the above routine = no PI, PO, PS symptoms; unknown exposure - the above routine = PI, PI, PS symptoms in my case.

 

[muncybob]

Yep, stuffs a pain the butt. I'll usually cut it with an axe in the spring or summer & let it dry as much as possible before winter cutting. Otherwise I wear gloves & long sleeves & peel it off the tree before I put the saw into it. Still get it occasionally, but not nearly as bad as hittin it with the chain. That just splatters the oil everywhere. Any vines are a pain to work around imo. but they're everywhere. Hazards of the outdoors I guess. Keep scratchin. A C

I am highly allergic to the stuff, but I do the same as AC. Seems to work well as the vines are fairly easy to pull off once they have died and dried up. I also use a dedicated pair of gloves for the task...take them off when I start actually cutting.
There is just too much wood here with vines for me to pass up.

Sheees!...now I'm scratching!

 

[Wood Duck]

I think Country Boy has a good system. Once you even THINK you might have been exposed, get in the shower within a few hours and wash your entire body very, very thoroughly with detergents, soaps, and more detergents and soaps. Assume you're entirely covered in the oil and wash accordingly, and you shouldn't be too bad off. I get nasty rashes that ooze puss for 6 weeks, but since I started being hyper vigilant about washing, I haven't had PI in years. Also, I'd learn to ID Poison Ivy inthe summer and take some time looking at the vines. That way you'll hvae a good idea what to look for in the winter. Around here, PI is the only deciduous vine that climbs trees and has singificant woody branches. Virginia Creeper is similar, but does not get the branches that PI does. A large PI vine can have branches that reach 4 or 5 feet horizontally out from the main vine on the tree trunk. Of course small PI vines won't have the large branches. Female PI vines have small white berries on them, unlike any other vine in this area.

 

[Mike821]

Guys....Tecnu is my solution. Working in the landscape industry I have to just, "Buck Up" and deal with the vines sometimes. After I am exposed I wash with Tecnu and I don't have any issues most of the time. Also, wash your cloths if you suspect that you might have brushed up or had chainsaw chips hitting you as a result of cutting. This stuff gets the oils out of cloths also. When I get home I also wash off with bleach....

http://www.teclabsinc.com/products.cfm?id=1F5604C8-9D05-4675-56129F6D83DF2417

 

[wvwoodchuck]

As several of you mentioned, I too hop in the shower as soon as I get back inside. So far it's not too bad, other than the red patch right in the middle of my forehead.

 

[billb3]

Poison oak or poison ivy ?


I've thrown gloves out and left them on the shelf untouched for months.
Anything growing on trees on my property gets cut at the base in the Winter - very carefully.


We have poison sumac here as well as regular sumac. If it's near the water I just assume it's poison sumac and stay away.

 

[RED FRONTIER]

My first rash of this year is healing up now. One round of steroids did the trick. I have a standing order at my Dr's. I didnt see it till after I loaded my truck from a scrounge off the hiway . I was rushing and didnt double glove or tape my wrists like usual. I really enjoy cutting wood but this PI stuff stinks.

 

[smokinj]

I enjoy cutting and splitting wood. However, I don't enjoy the poison oak that seems to grow up the trees I'm taking down. I'm the kind that can look at it and get it.
Even all covered up, I still get it. Right now it's on my forehead and around my wrists. A month or so ago, it was on my neck. I really hate that stuff!! Does anyone else fight with this in the winter too?

Yes and cutting through the vines with the dust in the air can make it real bad. I keep the achol hand wash close by, and wear goggles if I know Iam cutting through it.

 

[-PB-]

I don't get it very bad at all but a friend of mine does. He takes a cheap gallon jug of bleach with him when he goes out to cut. If he thinks he has been exposed he takes a bleach spongebath on site half way through his day allowing him to stay out in the woods longer before he goes through the routine mentioned above. He claims the bleach dries and kills the PI and PO oils. Works for him. I feel bad for you guys who get it bad. I've heard of people getting it from a distance away carried by the wind.

 

[smokinj]

I don't get it very bad at all but a friend of mine does. He takes a cheap gallon jug of bleach with him when he goes out to cut. If he thinks he has been exposed he takes a bleach spongebath on site half way through his day allowing him to stay out in the woods longer before he goes through the routine mentioned above. He claims the bleach dries and kills the PI and PO oils. Works for him. I feel bad for you guys who get it bad. I've heard of people getting it from a distance away carried by the wind.

He is much braver than I, but I do put bleech in the tub asap after getting done with the work. (Bet it works great if you can take it)

 

[-PB-]

he is a hairy bastard... like a gorilla! He says the oils cling to his manswaeter and the bleach cleanses it.

 

[semipro]

I don't get it very bad at all but a friend of mine does. He takes a cheap gallon jug of bleach with him when he goes out to cut. If he thinks he has been exposed he takes a bleach spongebath on site half way through his day allowing him to stay out in the woods longer before he goes through the routine mentioned above. He claims the bleach dries and kills the PI and PO oils. Works for him. I feel bad for you guys who get it bad. I've heard of people getting it from a distance away carried by the wind.

He is much braver than I, but I do put bleech in the tub asap after getting done with the work. (Bet it works great if you can take it)

Bleach mineralizes (oxidizes) anything organic including urushiol (PI oil). It will try to mineralize you too but there's a lot more of you around than there is of the oil.

 

[hokiefan]

When I get exposed I try to wash well to remove the oils as well. When I have a breakout or rash I use a product called Zanfel.
I heard about it on the Paul harvey show on the radio. It adheres to the oil in your skin and will wash it away. Costs about 30 dollars a tube but it works and doesn't take a lot. I buy it at walgreens or riteaid.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The stuff doesn't bother me at all. Poison ivy rarely bothers me either but it was funny watching rdust when he came after some wood. He started picking up the wood a bit tenderly and it turned out there was some poison ivy on some of the logs. I had not even given it a second though.....but he sure did.

 

[trailrated]

Am I correct in assuming the fuzzy vines on tree trunks is poison ivy or oak? I should snap a picture in the next day or 2 and post it for you guys to verify. I don't know what any other fuzzy vine could be.

 

[RED FRONTIER]

Thats what got me a few weeks ago. Peel the vines off then decon. Boy, it sounds like we work in a nuclear facility.

 

[gpcollen1]

Those vines are poison ivy...I'd bet my paycheck. Oak is generally a Western plant though I have heard of some in the Southeast but not as far north as you...

 

[Thistle]

Never really bothered me that much.When I go out walking or mushroom hunting through the timber I'm usually carrying one of my axes,so if I see one on a tree it gets despatched pretty quickly.

 

[jlove1974]

hmmm I am like Backwoods Savage, I think I could eat the stuff and no worries. Probably the fact I was overexposed as a kid!
In fact, this thread got me thinking about the vine I dispatched from an ash tree yesterday.
I cut the 10ft trunk that was remaining after the top snapped. The top had a woody vine,
with strong branches off of it, and I was thinking it was maybe muscadines or something benign. The live trunk piece however....

it had 2" thick fuzzy vine up and down it. I think I jerked it along with the bark in several pieces and cut the rest w/ the saw.

Hmmm wonder if that was bad and this in an area known to have poison oak everywhere lol.

Oh well, I took a shower and so far it's all good

 

[Mike821]

you will know in a few days if you will be OK. Most of the time the oils take a few days to give you a reaction unless you are one of those folks who just blow up. If it was me...I would take some bleach and wash your hands with it x2 just to be safe. Most of all keep an eye on the wood (the non-cutting kind) as you might have spread the oils in places you care not to do so.