What to do when poison ivy is on your prospects?

[Pine Knot]

If you cut much wood sooner or later you will cut into some. The main route to my skin seem to be saw dust thrown up my right sleeve on to my forearm and from there falling back down into the cuff of my glove onto my wrist and the back of my hand. I am not super sensitive but fresh Ivy laden saw dust gets me about every time. Sealing the right sleeve and wearing tall boots helps keep it away from the skin. But if it's fresh and "juicy" enough nothing helps!

 

[billb3]

This is an old loggers trick that I've never had the stones to try myself. But I met someone who has done this and he will touch poison ivy without even thinking about it and never get it.

http://www.wwmag.net/pivy.htm

I like the disclaimer at the end.

I think I'll let someone else try it.

I spray herbicide and cut the tree climbers at the base in the Winter.
Come back a year later ( or longer) and very carefully pull them off.
No way can I get near the stuff all sweaty in Spring, Summer or Fall.

I've got some pine and cherry that I cut the vines three or four years ago and still haven't cut down. The dead vines are still clinging.

 

[Spikem]

There are many ways to wash it off, and keep it off you etc.

Urushiol, the active oil, is... well, it's an oil. So think of it this way. If you got a little motor oil on you or your clothes, what would you do to get it all off? Everything you and/or your clothes touched have now got it. So you wash everything. Brake cleaner, carb & choke cleaner, ether, are all pressurized cans of things that will wash it off your skin and tools in the field if you feel the need. Some of those aren't necessarily good for you, but they save you from the oil in most cases. Also, one field that has had LOTS of research and competition in removing grease and oils is... Liquid Dish soap... Dawn, Palmolive etc are all good degreasers, use them thoroughly when you get home. I normally just take the bottle to the shower with me the instant I walk in the door from cutting wood where I know there was PI. Some people say that the oil can still be washed off up to 8 hours after contact, I personally wouldn't believe that it has to be done within 10 minutes, but 8 hours seems a stretch too. The sooner the better, if you're severely allergic 10 minutes may not be soon enough, or you could go a few hours, if you're only mildly allergic 8 hours may be ok for you. For me, I just do my best to stay out of it, and get washed asap after cutting. I normally just cut after work so I only have a couple hours contact and then get it washed off.

Also, sweaty clothes will suck the oil right through to your skin so if you're really allergic don't go cutting when it's hot out in just a t-shirt. Wait until winter when it's cooler and you have more layers on.

More tips:

Because boots don't take kindly to washing, I keep a separate pair of boots for cutting wood and other activities that may put me in PI. Those boots are treated like hazardous waste around the house (don't touch them unless putting them on or taking them off), and they're only used for activities where PI is likely so that I always wash up really good when I return.

Gloves are treated the same way, but those do occasionally get washed.

When I return I strip down in the garage and put all my clothes in a large bucket/basket. This helps in 2 big ways. No 1, my wife can just take the bucket and dump it into the wash without touching the clothes, and it stops the majority of the contamination at the door to the house.

Do I still get PI? Occasionally, I do, but normally it works pretty good. There are cases where I've pretty much rolled around in it cutting and didn't get a single speck, but other times when I didn't even know I got into it and didn't decon very seriously and got it pretty good. The latter just happened a couple weeks ago, just had a couple plant on the ground that I saw so I was very careful to stay away from it, so I didn't take my decon seriously and ended up with a little on my arms (nearly healed up now).

A lot of good stuff here but I just wanted to reiterate the bolded/italicized point. One year, I thought I was very smart in wearing jeans and gloves and a long sleeved shirt and still got it. That's when I found out it can come right through a shirt if you sweat through it.

 

[djbutt]

It's the poison ivy oil that irritates the skin. The saw dust down your shirt collecting at the waist line is the worst.

Best solution I've found is to keep the sanitizer level of my hot tub a little high. After cutting, soak in tub with a beer for 20 minutes.

The chlorine removes all the poison ivy oil. The hot tub sooths the muscles.

Its a win win

 

[boatboy63]

It's the poison ivy oil that irritates the skin. The saw dust down your shirt collecting at the waist line is the worst.

Best solution I've found is to keep the sanitizer level of my hot tub a little high. After cutting, soak in tub with a beer for 20 minutes.

The chlorine removes all the poison ivy oil. The hot tub sooths the muscles.

Its a win win

Sounds like a great idea. When can you ship it down here to TN? I have just the place for it.

 

[mellow]

I just did have to goto the dr. this weekend to get my usual round of steroids and hydrocortisone cream, I tried a whole week of washing with the Tecnu and using the Calagel and it wouldn't touch it. My arms look like someone took a whip to me, I apprently got it from wearing a t-shirt out cutting down a cherry tree, thought I had stayed far enough away from the vines but apparently the shavings from the saw got me. Tell you what though, on day 3 of the treatment and already looking 100% better, I should know by now just to goto the Dr, but always put it off till I can't take it anymore.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I recall a few years ago cutting a couple trees that both had the vines on. I took the axe and cut about a foot section off the bottom of the vines. The next winter we cut the trees and I then took the axe and peeled all the vines off the trees. It seemed to work okay and was not that much work to do. However, I'm not too apt to catch the itches from the stuff like others do. Thank God for that!