poison ivy?

[marcruby]

I always wonder why someone hasn't tried to make lacquer out of poison ivy sap. It's the same active ingredient that's in Urushi lacquer, which is too expensive for my blood, and also makes me break out in a rash.

Marc

 

[AceMrFixIt]

I had Poison Ivy on the brain.....

Only way I could scrach it was to think about sandpaper..............

 

[Lulanrt]

Poison Ivy

I said I would post a pic of my Poison Ivy Pen so hear it is. I have a very bad camera so the pic is bad. Hope it shows up ok.
Travis

 

[Glenn McCullough]

poison ivy

There was an article last year , I think, in Woodturning Design on turning pens of poison Ivy. If you cant find the article on line, PM me and i will scan it and send it to you.

has anybody made a pen out of poison ivy? I had a tree taken out and it had the biggest poison ivy vine growing on it I have ever seen. I cut some off to dry and try.

 

[Lulanrt]

Editor's Note from Woodturning Design the above article:
Poison Ivy Pen
We have received a number of negative comments about John Styer's Poison Ivy Pen article featured in this issue. Most were quite concerned about publishing this article because of the potential health ramifications involved with having a severe reaction to the vine. I understand these concerns and initially was quite apprehensive myself.

However, one of the original goals of our magazine was to publish articles about different and exotic turning materials, and this certainly qualifies as one. Turners are a diverse group of people and can have allergic reactions to a whole host of materials; cocobolo is one that comes to mind quickly. Not just a few turners are highly sensitive to this wood—many have had severe adverse reactions if they even touch the wood. Even though some turners are allergic to cocobolo, we still publish articles where this wood is featured. So after some thought, I decided to go ahead and publish the poison ivy article.

I guess what it all comes down to is personal responsibility and choice. I like to read articles about parachuting, but I'm not going to jump out of a plane! We all make our own choices in life. As I said in the Editor's Note, if you are the least bit concerned about an allergic reaction to poison ivy, don't turn it!

 

[great12b4ever]

There are so many good decent things we could make pens out of, why would we want to take a chance of hurting/harming ourselves or others by using something that may or may not hurt someone? I mean we could make pens using the blades out of disposable razors, or we could cast and make pens out of rattlesnake fangs, or tenacles from Man-O-Wars, or barbs from Sting-a-rays. Heck we could even grow a nice bit of mold and mildew, or poisnous mushrooms, and then cast them into pen blanks. If we did, and some child got a hold of the pen, put it in their mouth, bit down enough to penetrate the thin covering, and then got that "stuff" in their mouths, they could get sick or die from it, then where would you be?

IMHO we need to leave the dubious items and potentially harmful items alone and keep this as a positive, ever-growing, expanding enterprise, looking to forward our hobby/business rather than doing things that could have the potential of disastrous consequences.

And that is my 2 cents worth. You can agree or disagree, follow or ignore, or trash to you hearts content. I do not plan on making any additional comments about this.

Thanks

 

[Lulanrt]

If you have turned Chechem I would say there is no difference in poison ivy and chechem. The dangerous part is in the harvesting of the woods. Chechem bark contains a caustic sap but the wood is fine. I would say if we lived in Guatemala and wondered the jungles there we would be just as afraid of Chechem as we are of poison ivy. I am sure there are many others like chechem and I am sure we have turned them before without even knowing it. Che-Chem is the Mayan name for black poisonwood. This wood is used to make furniture. Just one example of many poison ivy like woods we use without out fear of hurting others with it.
Travis