Poison Sumac on my Chainsaw

[John_Mc]

OK, I'm finally recovering from the poison sumac on my hands (took about a 6 weeks) from clearing some trees and brush to make room for the finish grade around a new pond. That will teach me not to wear gloves. Now that I can bear the thought of picking up some tools again, I'm wondering what is the best way to clean the residue of the poison sumac off my chainsaw.

I already screwed up and laced the boots back on that I was wearing at the time... picked up a minor relapse from that. (Fortunately, I remembered to wash all of my other clothing and protective gear.) I'm not sure if I should just hose of the chainsaw, then wipe things down with alcohol, and regrease everything, or is there is a better way?

I got it bad enough that I'd love to err on the safe side and hit it with a detergent mix from my pressure washer, but I'm concerned that I'll do some damage to the saw -- either from the pressure, or from the detergent and water getting into places it shouldn't.

any suggestions?

John Mc

 

[teg]

Tecnu works for me but it's for the skin. Not sure about putting some on a rag to wipe down tools?

Gempler's sells it.

 

[RFB]

Poison sumac, oak and ivy has an oil based irritant called urushiol. For skin exposure, if you can remove it rapidly, you can greatly minimize the effects. Since it is a contact irritant, any residual urushiols on clothing, equipment or pets will re-establish the irritation. A very efficacious product is made by Tec Labs and is called Tecnu: http://www.teclabsinc.com/
I have used it and instructed in it's usage for over ten years, and most folks are fairly surprised at it's capabilities if used promptly after exposure. Even if used several hour post-exposure, it can still quantitatively reduce the expected inflammation.

The original product was developed as a waterless/low-water skin cleanser for nuclear fallout decon. As a disclaimer, I have zero financial interest in the sale or marketing of any Tec products; I am just an end-user.

Regarding your saw, I would stuff rags into the carb, remove (and replace) the air filter (see next paragraph), and perform the detergent wash as planned. Then Tecnu it, rinse, lube, and back to business.

Be very careful to avoid inhaling airborne urushiols either from burning the vegetation (inhaling the smoke) or aerosolizing it with a rapidly spinning chainsaw. A pulmonary insult from this stuff can be potentially deadly.

Tecnu will work on non-skin surfaces. I would use the detergent/p-washer first (stay upwind), then follow-up with Tecnu. Wear a respirator if you think there will be any chance you will inhale the urushiol oils.

 

[wushaw]

I have had to wipe my chainsaw down many times and I used the Isopropyl alcohol but I'm dealing with poison Ivy...so the Sumac maybe a little different.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Wash with regular household bleach. The wash the bleach off with water. FINALLY, spray everything with WD-40 or plain ol' oil. BTDT.

 

[John_Mc]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have had to wipe my chainsaw down many times and I used the Isopropyl alcohol but I'm dealing with poison Ivy...so the Sumac maybe a little different. )</font>

The active ingredient" in Poison Ivy, Poison Sumac or Poison Oak is all the same. So the alccohol should work on sumac if it works on poison ivy.

I've never had this strong of a reaction before, so I must have really gotten into it. My fingers blistered, dried and flaked off so many times that I had just about no skin left in places... flexing my hands would cause blood to ooze through what few layers of skin I had left. Doctor put me on Prednisone (a steroid) to help get over it.

I'm going to have to poke around my burn pile before I light it to make sure there is none in there. Since getting this, I've been doing some reading: even if you are not downwind, the urushiol oils get carried off in the smoke and deposited on other things, which can end up causing problems. With two little kids running around, I don't want to take the chance.

John Mc

 

[RalphVa]

Sounds like you got some good advice.

I once cut up a tree that had a poison ivy vine wrapped around it. Did it naked, and the chain kicked stuff back onto my body. Got a case of it. It was a rental saw. Think I just turned it in.

Ralph

 

[HillbillyFarmer]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have had to wipe my chainsaw down many times and I used the Isopropyl alcohol but I'm dealing with poison Ivy...so the Sumac maybe a little different. )</font>

Agreed. . . except there is no difference between PI and PS when it comes to solulability.
The problem is you are dealing with an oil which does not disolve in water. Soak the chainsaw in water and it'll just sit there. You'll have to use something that does disolve oil and the most common and one of the most effective is ISOPropyl alocohol (common rubbing alcohol).

 

[slowrev]

Just mail your saw to me, I am immune to the stuff and will take good care of it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ben

Seriously though a good detergent and pressure washer should take care of it.

Good luck.

 

[RFB]

Urushiol is an oily resin, and as such responds to detergents much better than polar solvents (alcohols). The negative consequence of both (detergents/alcohols) is that using either on urushiol contaminated skin will more than likely disperse the oils and increase the contaminated area. Tecnu is a combination of organic solvents and wood pulp by-products which remove terpene resins and urushiol; it essentially disolves the urushiol into suspension away from the skin, and is then flushed with water still in suspension.

For surface decon, "painting" the chainsaw with terpentine, and then washing it with a hot sudsy detergent (surfactant) or power washer with detergent, while using proper PPE (personal protective equipment) is a viable method.

 

[FlashPoint]

I feel your pain. Im highly allergic to all of it. Heres what i do after three trips to the doctor last summer. Technu is some good stuff but many ingredent is mineral spirts use paint thinner to clean your saw and wash down gloves and such. soap will remove the paint thinner residue. I looked and looked for a solution to keep from getting this stuff or to dry it up. Went as far as filling the hottub with 50lbs of salt rock and soaking. That helped. Only thing that has kicked it so far is Allergra medication.Dr said i was nutz but it keeps me from having it spread and goes away quickly.

 

[wushaw]

I forgot to mention that when I have had an PI outbreak I will just use Isoproplyl with a screw on spray top and spray affected area regularly to help dry it and to scratch, I know this is probably not the most used method or popular but it sure does feel good to scratch.

 

[marks]

I can't offer any suggestions for the decon of the saw, however I use a precontact solution and then decon with Technu or Zanfel. I've also found that high doses of vitamin C before and after contact, definetly helps.

 

[frank29]

The couple of times I exposed myself to poison ivy, and was aware of it, I aggressively washed my skin with detergent (powdered clothes washing stuff like Tide or whatever). The times I have done that I avoided all rash.

A couple of stories:

The worse exposure I ever had was about 25 years ago. I made a wreath out of you know what. While making the wreath, I answered the call of nature. Man oh man, it wasn't long before I was in trouble.

A friend was real careful in removing a bunch of posion ivy. He avoided all contact as he put it in a pile. He burned the stuff. He breathed some of the smoke and had internal "burns".

Lastly, I parked near a coworker's pickup that was full of the stuff. I mentioned it to him and he didn't have a clue as to what it was....he thought he was just loading harmless vines. It wasn't long before he was in as bad shape as I was when I made that wreath.

That stuff is wicked. Now I go overboard, anything with three leaves is avoided.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Clean the saw with turpentine or mineral spirits. They disperse the oils just fine. You can also use them on your skin right after exposure, but don't leave it on long as there can be health risks from absorption.

Keep in mind that PI, and PS can still be infectious up to one year after cutting, and as has been mentioned, don't burn it!

John

 

[RedRocker]

That stuff loves me and I've got a bunch of it on my place.

 

[Pilot]

Treat it the same way you would remove pitch, because the toxin is like sumac sap.

Diesel works well on pitch. I suspect turpentine or mineral spirits would, too.

I think your BIG challenge is what to do with the stuff in the piles. If you can do it legally, light the piles & leave for the day.

And in the future, I would hit the sumac hard with Weedmaster or Crossbow.

Be careful brush mowing. If you have to mow where there might be some of the stuff, wear a respirator so you don't inhale particles & shower promptly. That would be a big job to clean up a tractor or mower. That's why I like to spray!

 

[John_Mc]

Thanks everyone for all of the advice. I'm waiting for things to warm up a bit around here before I fire up the pressure washer. I'm figuring I'll do an alcohol or paintthinner wipe down, then hit it with the pressure washer with a bit of detergent in it to rinse things off

Fortunately, I've got two chainsaws. I just fired up the other one today. At least I hope it was the other one... it's been a while. I guess I'll find out in a day or so... between the saw and cutting up some logs in the burn pile, I could have let myself in for some trouble. I did try to wash up pretty thoroughly afterwards - alcohol, soap, lots of water, etc (no paint thinner or turpentine around, unfortunately).

I'll be ordering a supply of Tecnu tomorrow.

This has been an interesting experience. I;ve always had very minor reactions in the past. I'm hoping this one was just due to the very dry, chapped hands I had when working around the stuff.

John Mc

 

[miles2go]

Household bleach is very effective in denaturing poison oak/ivy/sumac residue. Use the bleach full strength. Then rinse well and re-oil, as previously suggested.

 

[RobT]

I've used Tecnu (which is available at Wal-Mart now) for skin and equipment. Great stuff. I also use WD-40 to wipe down equipment and to spray on small patches of PI that I find around the barns.