Poison Ivy n Firewood

[FLHX Storm]

The other day I heard a chainsaw running over at my neighbors place, and since he isn't supposed to be doing that kind of work due to having a pacemaker put in, I went over to see if I could lend a hand (like do the entire job) Well, his son was there removing 2 largish river birch (at least that is what I think it was) with a huskqvarna 350 wearing a 16 inch bar n chain. Supposedly he is a chainsaw instructor and an arborist but I'm not seeing it.

Anyway, the wood was offered to me so I retrieved my pickup truck, chainsaws, n stuff so that i could process it down to manageable size to bring home. The first thing I did was to remove the stumps since they were 23/24 inches in height n then cut them down to 16 inches. Then limbed and bucked the rest into 4 foot sections. One trunk was about 12 inches across at the base and the other was a but shy of 15 inches.

Now the bad stuff. I saw that a lot of the wood had those vines from poison ivy still attached to it, but I figured, no leaves, how bad could it be. So I loaded up the truck with a bit over a half cord (total yield) and dumped it over at my place n went back and put the brush into manageable piles. My neighbor has a spot he like to drag that stuff to somewhere on his property. The following day I went out and bucked everything into 16 inch lengths, poison ivy vines still attached, and then split most everything down into firewood. I hauled it all over to my firewood collection some 150 feet away in one of those 2' x 4' garden wagons and in loading each piece I peeled the vine off.

I was wearing gloves and a long sleeved hoodie but worked up quite a sweat (yes girls sweat) and evidently I had wiped the sweat off my face while my gloves were still on. Some 6 or so hours later I did the shower thing and everything seemed okay. But then I wasn't looking for any evidence of poison ivy exposure. Well, the following morning yielded the results. Both wrists had broken out with a rash, my neck, face and a part of my scalp were also broken out, and my face was and still is swollen so badly that I can barely open my left eye.

So needless to say, if it hasn't cleared by Thanksgiving, I am NOT going anywhere and until it's cleared I don't want to see anyone or let anyone see me!

I didn't bring a camera with me to take pictures of the stump though I did take some after I had the wood at home. My neighbors son did an interesting cut on one of the trees that I had never seen used on such a small diameter tree especially since his bar was long enough to go straight through. Anyway, here is the stump bottom and top. While I'm at it is this River Birch or some other kind of wood?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Oral Ivy!

 

[FLHX Storm]

Oral Ivy!

Good idea! But that means I have to drive about 40 miles into the city to get it. Does it really work?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yes it works, and you can buy it online.

 

[FLHX Storm]

It looks as though I will have to purchase it online. I checked the drugstores in the city and only one carries it, but isn't sold in it's store, only online. So I guess I'll go with the closest vendor on Amazon.

I placed the order at 1:42am for 4 of them. But it says "Estimated delivery: Nov. 29, 2013 - Dec. 4, 2013" Really I hope I get it a lot sooner!

 

[Macman125]

That Is a cherry tree you cut up.

 

[dingeryote]

Look around for a Mexican Grocery or carneceria in your area...there is one, I promise.

Grab a Mexican coke in the glass bottle, and when you pay at the register, ask for "Poison Ivy cream".
Usually it will take a couple trys, but a tube of "Qudraderm NF" in the box will be produced.
The stuff is OTC in Mexico, but not here, and is about the best remedy you're going to get without going to the Doc.

Beware of the Oral Ivy as anything but a preventative/desensitizer.
It does nothing to slow/stop/reduce an existing reaction, and may INCREASE the bodys production of reactionary histamines.

In the mean time, Benedryl to slow histamine production, and HOT water on the affected area to drive histamines from the affected area, will provide relief.

Keep the area clean and watch for infection as well. I have gotten cellulitis from grunging around and not covering PI blisters....dumbstuff, it happens.

Good luck! And nice stump!

 

[Macman125]

It burns really well in the stove. Nice score on the wood. Sorry to hear about the poison ivy. I am lucky that i am immune to it.

 

[dingeryote]

FLHX,

On a whim I checked...Amazon has the quadraderm NF.
http://www.amazon.com/Quadriderm-Be...d=1385191444&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=quadraderm

Another good one is Diprosone, which is a corticosteroid.
My Doc is a shooting buddy, and he writes a script for me every year for the stuff, to save me stopping in 3-4 times a year for minor PI "Events".
For the serious stuff, it's a Med pack of prednisone, and I have almost as much experience as he does with what is and isn't "Serious"

I was kinda shocked to find the Diprosone on Amazon as well. It is normally available by script only.
http://www.amazon.com/Diprosone-Cre...UTF8&qid=1385191701&sr=1-1&keywords=Diprolene

If that reaction on your face is near your eyes, get to the Doc if you even think it MIGHT be getting into your eyes or eyelids.
Don't screw around with waiting to make the drive. The stuff will raise hell with your eyeballs and do permanent damage.

Good luck!

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Too bad about your ivy outbreak there, Storm. I gotta say I've never had the displeasure of having to deal with that stuff. When you get yourself all healed up bring the neighbors son back over and shown the young 'un how somebody with experience wields a chainsaw!

 

[FLHX Storm]

Good luck! And nice stump!

Thanks for the additional information. N around here, out in the boonies, the little town I live about 5 miles away from, it's lucky to have a grocery store n gas station!

N that's not MY stump. Mine tend to be better looking in my totally unbiased opinion. Below are a few examples of mine:

N this is how I finish them!

 

[FLHX Storm]

Too bad about your ivy outbreak there, Storm. I gotta say I've never had the displeasure of having to deal with that stuff. When you get yourself all healed up bring the neighbors son back over and shown the young 'un how somebody with experience wields a chainsaw!

LOL, that youngun is between 45 n 50 years old. My neighbor is in his low to mid 70's.

Me? Experience with a chainsaw? Nah, I'm still as green as the wood I cut! I did show him my latest video though.

 

[windthrown]

For poison ivy (or its western cousin, poison oak), the stuff to get is Zanfel which removes urushiol from your skin, even after it has bonded with it. It is expensive, but it works. It will remove the irritant from your skin and that will reduce the local skin rash/reaction. However, it will not resolve the whole body reaction if you are all puffed up like a marshmallow. That reaction is similar to organ transplant rejection and usually Benadryl or steroids are used for that. Cortisone cream will help as well. The trick with PI or PO is to wash with laurel sulfate (cheap shampoo has a lot of it in it) before the urushiol bonds with your skin and causes the reaction. Urushiol will be on the vines of PI and PO even when they are leafless and dormant, so you need to avoid contact with it at all times of the year. If it gets on your clothes (or your dog) and they come in contact with your skin you can get it by secondary contact the same as if you rub the plant directly on your skin. Urushiol is also present in Ginko tree bark, and you can get the same reaction cutting or chipping up ginko. For that reason I declined any ginko tree falling or chipping jobs.

.

 

[FLHX Storm]

That Is a cherry tree you cut up.

It is possible that it could be cherry but if were I think I would still be out there trying to split it. Some was a little stringy and the crotches were a bear, but it only took about 2 hours to get it completely split. (a bit over a half cord @ 72 cubic feet)

When it was fresh cut n split, the sapwood was a creamy white and turned yellowish a bit later. The heartwood color stayed about the same. I'm not going to say it wasn't cherry, simply because I usually ID trees when they have their leaves. All the trees have lost all or the greater majority of their leaves now. I'm not really very good at IDing trees just by their wood and bark. (But I can cut the heck out of em )

 

[windthrown]

Well, you can look at the dry leaves on the ground around the trees that you cut in winter months... even when they are dry the shapes will help ID the local trees around them. I see oak leaves there in the photos, and what could be cherry leaves, or similar leaf shapes. I grow a lot of cherry on my property here and that does not look like cherry to me. Cherry is uniform in color, both heart and sap wood. It also has thin bark (like paper birch) with rings banding around the upper branches less than about 8 inches in diameter.

Oooooohhh (Homer Simpson wiggly fingers), you added a photo of a nice clean 361... my favorite chainsaws. Looking good.

 

[ash man]

Windthrown is right on with the zanfel recomendation. Its the best over the counter stuff you can fInd

 

[buzz sawyer]

Never had a problem splitting wild cherry - straight pieces almost as easy as ash. Now pin cherry is different. The bark holds it together and it is a bear to split by hand. I had to saw through the bark all around the log, then it split easily.

When I even think I've been exposed to PI, I scrub down with Technu (from Bailey's). So far, haven't had any problems in years.

 

[cheeves]

Look around for a Mexican Grocery or carneceria in your area...there is one, I promise.

Grab a Mexican coke in the glass bottle, and when you pay at the register, ask for "Poison Ivy cream".
Usually it will take a couple trys, but a tube of "Qudraderm NF" in the box will be produced.
The stuff is OTC in Mexico, but not here, and is about the best remedy you're going to get without going to the Doc.

Beware of the Oral Ivy as anything but a preventative/desensitizer.
It does nothing to slow/stop/reduce an existing reaction, and may INCREASE the bodys production of reactionary histamines.

In the mean time, Benedryl to slow histamine production, and HOT water on the affected area to drive histamines from the affected area, will provide relief.

Keep the area clean and watch for infection as well. I have gotten cellulitis from grunging around and not covering PI blisters....dumbstuff, it happens.

Good luck! And nice stump!

Hydrocortisone cream! Prednisone pak works better! One, two days gone!!

 

[haveawoody]

FLHX Storm,

To bad about the PI getting you.
PI always gets you when you least expect it with a how much can that tiny little vine bother me idea.
Always best to remove all PI vine you see before cutting, cutting PI vines with the chainsaw spreads it in fine dust format everywhere.
Once you know a tree has PI vine even when the vine is all gone it still can get you cutting and handling the bark.
Best to treat it as if it was a poison tree on every cut and handle of the wood and everything that touched the wood like the saw, wedges, gas can, bar oil can, gloves, chaps, face shield, clothes treat as poisoned until cleaned.
Really best solution is remove vine then visit the tree a few months later when nature has all but broken down the PI oil and the tree is pretty safe to handle and cut.

Pretty sure you have some nice cherry wood to show for it so that's something, do yourself a favor though and don't burn that wood for at least 1 year.
PI poison and PI smoke are very different critters to a human body and since you are already allergic you will have to avoid encounters with Mr PI again.

Really nothing you can do once your allergic to PI other than avoid it, if things get bad from a reaction it's a doctor visit and steroids are the general treatment.

 

[blades]

Sorry to hear of your PI visit, everything above is good, I do not break out in big blisters or swell way up but it gets in my system and I break out like a very bad case of heat rash everywhere head to toe, extremely uncomfortable. I have a huge Ginko tree at my place Only reason not to take it out is it blocks western sun keeping things cooler in warm months. In the fall when it drops them apricot looking seeds and the leaves( which are like rubber) it is a PIA. For some reason though I never have gotten a reaction to it yet. But PI I give a wide space to, been about 5 years since the last episode.