A poisoned little gloat

Re: A poisoned little gloat

Dave Lambert

>I found myself in a similar situation a while back. I acquired some silk oak from a tree trimmer and thought I had scored some really beautifully grained wood. Turns out silk oak can cause severe skin reactions. Roughly three days after sawing it into blanks, I was cover with poison oak from my neck on down. It took nearly a month and several trips to the doctor to get rid of it. I finally decided to throw the wood away instead of trying to turn it. The rewards did not justify the risk of another outbreak. IMHO, there is too much good wood out there to take chances like that. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Dave

Re: A poisoned little gloat

adrien

>whoa! With silky oak, it is the WOOD that is allergenic. With poison ivy it is the vine on the outside of the wood.

I've turned cherry that had had the vine on one side with no problem. If you take the bark off that side, the other which was not supporting the vine can be handled without fear, and could be turned natural edge.

Try rubber gloves when removing the vines. Don't burn them, the smoke carries urushiol. If you use an ax or hatchet to chop off the vines, clean it with very strong soap or lye.

Re: A poisoned little gloat

Doug Trembath

>An aquaintance of mine, pretty good turner, by the way, started cutting some silky oak, and a few moments later was found by his wife lying unconscious by the woodpile. They rushed him to the hospital, and a couple of days later, was able to bring him home. Weeks of being covered with open sores and terrible itching resulted. As I hear it, he wasn't really sure what had brought about the attack, so he tried it again.

(sigh)

I'm unclear about something, however. Were the tendrils you mentioned a part of the tree, or were they small vines growing up the outside of the tree? If they are vines, they may be Poison Ivy, as I have learned since moving to PA that it will start out as a small vine, and left undisturbed, grow to about 6 inches in diameter, (the biggest I've seen so far in my woods.) These can be carefully stripped from the tree and disposed of, and the wood should be okay.

If it's part of the tree, I'd certainly recommend having it removed, or by handling it carefully, dumping it in the woods somewhere, and asking the tree guy for something else in return. Try to get something like maple, ash or cherry, since fewer people seem to have allergic reactions to these woods, in my own experience.

Walnut gets quite a few folks, too. I'd be extra careful with exotic woods, as well, as some of them are also pretty high in allergens.

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

Re: A poisoned little gloat

Don Henthorn

>And always remember if you think there is a chance you have been exposed to poison oak, take a shower scrubbing good with a detergent. I have never developed a rash if I remember to do that.

Re: A poisoned little gloat

adrien

>Doug, Smoky Joe, are you writing from Australia? Because that's where silky oak grows, not on this side of the planet, I think.

Re: A poisoned little gloat

Doug Trembath

>Adrien, Silky Oak was brought to the US for places like Southern California, along with Carob, many of the acacias, I believe, and the ever-present Eucalyptus varieties a long time ago for use as ornamentals. I had a neighbor that had a Silky Oak 3' in diameter over the fence in Long Beach. The leaves and trash that came off that tree made a mess during the year. I have turned this stuff and got just a bit of irritation, but other folks have violent reactions.

Doug Trembath

Studio in the Woods

Re: A poisoned little gloat

adrien

>Thanks for the heads up Doug,

We have so many nasty imports, don't we? Japanese Bindweed, Japanese honeysuckle, kudzu.....