Poison Ivy Grips

[wallenba]

I've always been curious about the smoke if you burn old dead vines and inhale it. Is it still a danger?

[Awsar]

just not worth it to many other safer woods out there why take the chance and you never know who else might touch it

[I'll Make Mine]

I've always been curious about the smoke if you burn old dead vines and inhale it. Is it still a danger?

That's what I keep hearing/reading -- never tried burning the stuff myself, and don't plan to.

[Saint]

As far as the reason well it's just something different. How many people buy a gun knowing it will be a terrible shooter just because it's different. As far as the look is concerned, the stuff I worked with before was interesting looking due to the fact that it had red streaks going through it no matter what finish I used. As some people have mentioned it is very soft wood and as a result it absorbs finish like a sponge which actually hardens it to some extent but I would have to be careful with it.

[Saint]

Well, I am probably going to be scolded, but... The last place I saw any amount of Poison Ivy was at the Old Mill Golf Course- they have signs everywhere telling people to stay out of the trees. All the plants I saw were small, but I am not going to tempt fate searching! I would bet if you are serious, that area near Big Cottonwood Canyon might have some. Then again- there are a couple of shops in SLC that sell really nice exotic woods that don't require special rash treatments or ER visits...

Where would I find some of these shops, I wouldn't mind using a different type of wood but I have had a hard time finding exotic woods here.

[oldred]

JUST A WARNING!!!!! That old bs "urban legend", and it's just that BS, about eating a small piece of poison ivy to prevent a reaction can cause a person a lot of grief and in extreme cases could even be fatal! DON'T DO IT, IT DOES NOT WORK!!!! A person does not build up an immunity to urushiol oil (the evil stuff in poison ivy/oak/sumac) so inoculation does not work. The rash and irritation from urushiol oil is just the opposite of a normal allergic reaction and is actually the body's immune system working against itself so instead of inoculation from exposure (eating leaves or drinking contaminated milk) a person is FAR more likely to develop a sensitivity to the stuff. Some people can wallow around in this evil vine with no ill effects and this has led to many ill-conceived rumors about what they did to become immune when the fact is they were simply born that way, with more and more exposure over time they very well may lose that advantage! How do I know all this? Let's just say I am already breaking out in a rash just from reading this thread! Well maybe not quite that bad but close and although I have for all my life been aware of my susceptibility to urushiol poisoning an incident with a weed-eater a few years ago led to an even higher education and some permanent scars, after a long conversation with my dermatologist I now have a better understanding of what to do and what not to do around poison ivy.


DON'T listen to old folk stories and urban legends when it comes to poison ivy, you may regret it!

[Jeff Michel]

+1 for oldred. My mother, to "prove" to my father she was immune to poison ivy, proceeded to eat a couple leaves. Came very close to losing her, closed off her throat. This was years before steroid treatments. Very dumb and very dangerous. With respect to burning, the local fire department had to battle a blaze at an old brick residence that was completely covered with poison ivy vines. Everyone on the FD developed a bad case of poison ivy (including lungs ) from the smoke of the burning ivy. We didn't have a fire department for about two weeks as a result. As a side, some people are very allergic to teak. Not many were aware of this until a lot of soldiers came back from the Pacific theater with Arasaka rifles.

[oldred]

Jeff that's a good example of what I was talking about and it makes me cringe when I hear someone repeat that very dangerous old tale about "just eat a little piece of the leaf and it won't bother you anymore", that one is often repeated and has caused a heck of a lot of grief! It seems whenever this subject comes up there is usually a lot of joking in addition to the common misconceptions but poison ivy is no laughing matter, it can be anything from a mild irritation to a life threatening reaction so it should always be taken seriously. I know people have and will continue to argue that eating poison ivy leaves or drinking contaminated milk (the usual version of that story is that farm dwellers are immune if they drink the milk of cattle that graze where the vine grows) but a little bit of thought should easily debunk that theory. If immunity were so easy by inoculation from eating raw plants why is inoculation not accepted medical practice or better yet a pharmaceutical version administrated from a medical professional instead of the only moderately effective treatments they use now?

[44man]

Don't eat it and don't burn it. It WILL get into lungs.
I have never had it and I will be 75 in Dec. I have even burned it. Yet I heard about some becoming sensitive. Some are so bad they can't look at it from 50 yards.
Don't fool with it.
I can, I can pull it by hand. Been into a huge amount with white berries and leaves all over me. I never got poison oak either.
Nobody else can touch me or a dog that runs in it. You can get it from deer hide. Deer DO eat it too.
I am not stupid enough to eat it, it could tip the balance.
I chain saw it, weed whack it, cut it out of tree stand trees with a hand saw, Yank those big fuzzy vines off the tree, etc.
I don't need to get it as much as I am round it.

[Snapping Twig]

All we got out here on the West Coast is poison oak.

That's the more virulent version of poison ivy.

I tell you now, it's a bad idea to use the wood from these plants for ANYTHING.

[prs]

We've got it here in WV big enough to make salad bowls. Yum....

prs

[StrawHat]

Where would I find some of these shops, I wouldn't mind using a different type of wood but I have had a hard time finding exotic woods here.

Woodcraft is a source for ëxotic"woods. Not sure if they are in Utah, but they are online.

http://www.woodcraft.com/category/10...-products.aspx

[StrawHat]

Found one,

http://www.woodcraft.com/stores/store.aspx?id=311