Oak stains

[treeclimber165]

Are others here familiar with getting your hands stained black after working with certain types of oak? For me, it seems to occur on removals mostly. After handling lots of cut oak wood, my hands are black like I've been working on an old truck motor. Most soaps and cleaners don't seem to work well, or even lather up. It's like all the natural oils are gone out of my skin and it takes several days for the stains to wear off. It can be embarrassing when dining out and your hands look filthy.

 

[Stumper]

Any sado-masochistic tendencies Treeclimber? Sounds like you tanned your own hide!

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I have worked with oak often and have never had this happen, although oak is interesting in that the wood itself turns black in just minutes, when it comes in contact with metal.
Maybe you have too much iron in your blood??

 

[Treeman14]

I wear gloves, my wife likes a soft touch.

I know what you're talking about, though. Its like a moldy coating on the limbs, sort of slimy green when its wet?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I get that with silver maple on damp days, the smut that covers them turns me a grayish color. clothes ar toast. Is it very humid where you work brian ?

My wood turning shop has stains all over where I left bark laying on the floor. Many natural dies came from boiled bark.

 

[Dave]

Brian, as Stumper said it's the tannin in the oak that's turning your paws into shoeleather. Dine in dimly lit restaurants and think about how much you'll save on work gloves.

 

[Reed]

Yup, tannic acid. It's what makes the streams of the north flow tan, it's also what makes your jeans stain.

Sometimes I've noticed it doesn't stain, other times does. I had some reserve brain space once and some time to reflect on the smaller things in life so I checked-out this phenomenon. It seems when we sweat there might be some chemical interaction that makes the stains permanent, colder days it's not that big a problem. Also, wash water for the laundry - here we're hard as nails and my jeans don't come too clean, on the east coast where I work occassionally, I can get as grubby as a feral pig but my clothes come-out fresh enough to attend a black-tie dinner (if they let-in a tree climber with bluejeans on).

I love oak juice. The nectar of the gods. During a drought, there's more black staining from the vascular beer, less so in more moist times. What really stinks though is the juice that's common with core-rot (heart rot). Nothing quiet like chunking-down from 30 feet up and hitting a reservior of 10 gallons of gooey black sewage sludge that spills-out into your face. I know the taxonomists have a fit when you call something something that it's not, but my true definition of Butt Rot is the aroma one comes down the tree with after sawing into just such a septic pool of crud. Tree work....gotta love it.

 

[Dave]

My uncle, who spent many years as a carpenter, advised that should one be sanding an oak floor, one would do well not to sweat on it lest he leave spots all over it.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i think Live Oak has more oil, hence more staining and heavier BBQ flavor! Even more oils with fruiting i think.

In fact that flavour can get quite strong, and like it with sweet citrus wood mixed. They both have a lot of flavour and give a hot burn to BBQ, to sear the meat shut before juices can sweat out of food! We prefer it to Hickory!

 

[Reed]

I also noticed that live oak wood is the heaviest commercially rated wood in America - - 5600 lbs per cord.

I remove them for a living, and even a recently deceased one doesn't get any lighter. One of these days when I learn how to manage money better, I'm going to get me a 10,000 pound grapple - me 'ol back is gettin' mighty sore.