Everyone here has good advice. Wash the clothes you have that touch the vine, and also realize that if you burn it, the smoke from you stove can cause allergic reactions depending on how sensitive you are. I got this stuff on my legs this year, and it lasted for four weeks. Woodbine AKA Virginia creeper is what got me. Oddly enough my jeans had holes in the knees and the saw dust from cutting the vine several times (1 inch diameter) caused havoc. Good luck. A little caution goes a long ways.
Most times it doesn't bother me. Still, like HD, I've used an axe or hatchet to remove it from the tree. First, I'd cut a strip of the stuff off where the felling cut was to be made. Then when the tree is down. Just take the axe and scrape it off. But as rdust can attest to, we don't always clean it off the wood. He just does not like that stuff at all.
I've had lousy results with all of the poison ivy cleaners. There is a product out there called Ivy Block which works well if you know you will be exposed. Combine that with washing up using mechanics hand soap (with or without grit) and you should have no trouble at all. I hate the stuff. Impossible to get rid of it for long.
Really, just cold water, Dawn dish soap, and some serious scrubbing should do most of what needs must be met, in terms of removing the offending/ irritating oil.... Cold water will contract pores(much like dealing with fiberglass insulation), Dawn "takes grease out of your way"(or oil, for that matter). What does the "wife" say @ 6 seconds?
There is an over the counter screen, kinda like sun screen, that you apply to exposed skin that prevents P.I. It blocks the oil from getting to the skin. Its water proof to a point. You will still need to wash any exposed areas with hot soapy water and was your close separately from the family laundry. Ask your pharmacist, he, she will have the name, as it escapes me at the moment. I'm fortunate, I've never had it. I can take the leaves and rub all over me and never get it. As a kid I used to win bets a summer camp, until they caught on!
Ain't no wood worth that horrid itch. at least not to me. My sons get it really bad. someone always seem t find it. One is just now getting over it. Found a new patch behind the garage. He got into that and a bunch of yellow jackets all at the same time.
I'm lucky enough that I very rarely catch it. If I find it on a tree, I normally just cut off enough to make my felling cuts. Once the tree is on the ground I just yank it off in one big vine and drag it somewhere far away and then scrub my hands with dirt and grass if I'm in the woods, or with soap and water if it's available. My brother on the other hand, can cover his body head to toe, wear gloves with latex liners, and then immedietely have someone help him remove his clothes and take a shower after handling PI, and he'll have rashes all over his body. He takes one of those preventative things when he knows he's getting into PI and it helps, but its not a cure-all. I did like that video, he's probably right that washing correctly makes the biggest difference for most people.
Nothing to add that will help. I know when I am waist deep in the stuff because my wife tells me I am. I do take precautions to keep contaminated clothing separate in the dirty laundry so she does not react while washing clothes but I am one of the lucky ones. I have never reacted to PI.
Best thing I've found to stop the itching and burning is PVC pipe cleaner (clear, not purple) It gets really cold when it evaporates and really dries the area out. It gives you a really pounding headache about ten minutes later that also helps you forget about the itch... I do not recommend this method...unless your a plumber...
I usually have the room to myself when I'm using PVC glue and cleaner... everyone thinks it stinks...I odnt htink ti tsinks ta lal... I've even heard it causes dain bramage
Took yalls advice and got the vines and bark off the tree. It had been dead for a while so it wasn't too difficult. Got a good little jag of wood off of it, still have to more of the trunk to cut up.
