They call it poison for a reason

[Skyco]

Are you saying the oak and walnut wood can cause a reaction?
I have had to forego some firewood because I spotted poison ivy vines on it. I'm not sawing up or handling that stuff for any reason

 

[Transit]

WOW! Eat poison ivy!! You nuts?
Cutting wood that痴 been contaminated with poison ivy is bad enough, burning it indoors is even better.

Ever hear of Satan wood?

 

[chh]

Wow, I never heard of anyone dying from it, but I don't doubt that it could happen. I am pretty resistant to it, my wife is not nearly so. If it think I have it on my clothes I make sure they get washed seperately and that she doesn't handle them. I used to play in it and around poison ivy and poison oak when I was a kid, we had a lot of it around when I was little(still do). I sure would not recommend anyone trying eating it.
I did not realize until the floods around here last year that you can get it from the oily film on the water if there is a lot of it in a flooded area. The Corp of Engineers put out warnings at the lakes last year. That could take all the fun out of wade fishing.

 

[psj12]

I have heard of reactions to walnut and even experienced a mild reaction to breathing the dust while sanding the wood. It gave me bronchitus type symptoms and a dry cough for a couple of weeks. I now wear a dust mask when working with walnut. I never heard of oak having the same affect.

 

[JoelD]

JoelD,

Here are all three plus some more irritants. Bad stuff. Look at the pictures.


Skin Rash Hall of Fame

Thanks JJ, one of my goals for the day is to be able to successfully identify the stuff.

Long night last night, itchy, itchy, itchy. The only thing that really helps is ice.

Joel

 

[jinman]

I hate the stuff, I can't figure out what it looks like, all the plants look the same to me.

Joel

Joel, you are not the only one who has a problem. Lot's of folks here confuse poison ivy and Virginia creeper. Here are some pictures that may help. We also have green briars here that have waxy heart-shaped leaves and the vines have lots of thorns. Those are NOT poisionous. There's several of those in the pictures too.

 

[polo1665]

I was weedwacking last friday and have my first case this year yesterday and today.

I hate the stuff, I can't figure out what it looks like, all the plants look the same to me.

Joel

I have learned how to identify it the hard way. You can't always expect it to look like the classic pictures. The time I got it the leaves were at least 8" to 10" across, I didn't think for a second that it could've been poison. I was wrong. That was the first time and hopefully the last time I will ever get it.
I have tried to educate myself adequately and have read about cases like what happened to the OP's friend (my condolences to kdm0811 and his friends family). I have read about such cases but they usually involved breathing in smoke from burning leaves. I've attached some photos of examples of the plants around my house. A good rule of thumb is if you have any question and the leaves are in a cluster of three, leave it alone. Of course this does not apply to poison sumac.

 

[Soundguy]

Can you please provide some additional details? Not that we just want gory stuff but there has got to be some more to this.

Was it inhaled? Forest fire and he got in the smoke? Knocked out in a patch and didn't come to for hours after rolling all over it? What? Did he have some other condition or disease that made it worse for him?

Sounds like an agressive alergic reaction to the active ingredient.. vs the toxcicity of the ingredient itself.. but then.. I'm no doctor.. etc..

soundguy

 

[JoelD]

Joel, you are not the only one who has a problem. Lot's of folks here confuse poison ivy and Virginia creeper. Here are some pictures that may help. We also have green briars here that have waxy heart-shaped leaves and the vines have lots of thorns. Those are NOT poisionous. There's several of those in the pictures too.

Jim, excellent, perfect, I recognize the top left for sure, in my twisted way of thinking I thought they were little trees and have been pulling them up with bare hands. The leaves look a lot like hardwood tree leaves to me.

I'm far from a arborist (spelling), but this picture is very very helpful to me.

Thank you,
Joel

 

[JoelD]

I have learned how to identify it the hard way. You can't always expect it to look like the classic pictures. The time I got it the leaves were at least 8" to 10" across, I didn't think for a second that it could've been poison. I was wrong. That was the first time and hopefully the last time I will ever get it.
I have tried to educate myself adequately and have read about cases like what happened to the OP's friend (my condolences to kdm0811 and his friends family). I have read about such cases but they usually involved breathing in smoke from burning leaves. I've attached some photos of examples of the plants around my house. A good rule of thumb is if you have any question and the leaves are in a cluster of three, leave it alone. Of course this does not apply to poison sumac.

Another super post with great pictures, I'm gonna take some shots around my house and see what I come up with. I'm affraid I've been working in this stuff all along.

I was not alergic as a boy, but once I hit 40, the train came off the tracks.

Joel