Can carving Bass Wood cause an infection?

[Dileon]

Need to watch out for that basswood, known to soak up a live man. smile.... Ever hear the story Manley Hinshaw January 21, 1926, Hinshaw's story appeared on the front page of a small weekly: the Rusk County Journal. It reported that two loggers had found the remains of a French explorer lost in 1663. The explorer had been trapped inside a basswood tree, and his body had become petrified there. Now, it was being sent to the State Historical Society in Madison.
"Lumbermen noticed a large basswood, and felled it. Even though it had a large home some 30 feet above the ground, it looked like good timber. Monday afternoon they struck their saws into the basswood at a point where they expected a cut would give them a 20-foot log and eliminate the portion affected by the large hole. All went well until about half way through the log the saw stuck in a rock. Latsch and Charpin cursed because they knew their saw blade would be dulled.
"After some labor, the men turned the tree trunk over and began a cut on the other side. Before long the same difficulty was encountered, but by turning the trunk about, the cut was finally completed, and the log rolled away, revealing what threw the men into a bad fright.
"There, staring up at them, was the ashen face of a man. And there, encased in the living trunk of the tree, was the entire body of a man, fully clothed in a coarse homespun and buckskins, which fell away when touched, and the head had been covered with long hair which had been tucked up under a Coonskin cap. With the mummified body in the hollow tree was an old muzzle-loading flintlock rifle and a muzzle-loading pistol of fanciful design."

[Eddy-Smiles]

Ha! Ha!... You almost got us Dileon!

Wisconsin Petrified Man
Manley Hinshaw created Wisconsins' most successful hoax and, typically, fooled readers throughout the United States. Other journalists have continued to reprint Hinshaw's story for more than 60 years -- and their readers continue to believe it. On January 21, 1926, Hinshaw's story appeared on the front page of a small weekly: the Rusk County Journal. It reported that two loggers had found the remains of a French explorer lost in 1663. The explorer had been trapped inside a basswood tree, and his body had become petrified there. Now, it was being sent to the State Historical Society in Madison.
Hinshaw apparently wrote the story because he needed something to fill an empty space in that weeks edition of the Journal. Local readers realized that it was a hoax but had also read Hinshaw's earlier stories, including a story about an inventor who extracted static electricity from the air, then used the electricity to run a large motor.
Other newspapers, even a national news agency, picked up Hinshaw's story about the petrified explorer, and reprinted it as truth. As a result, people as far away as Oregon sent the Journal a flood of letters and telegrams, asking for more details and photographs.
Readers who wanted to see the mummified remains drove to the State Historical Society's museum in Madison. An expert insisted that the remains had not been brought to the museum and probably never would be. The expert explained that, to be petrified -- to be turned to stone -- a body's decaying cells would have to be replaced by mineral matter. And it was impossible for the sap in a basswood tree to carry that type of mineral matter to a decaying body.
Other journalists find Hinshaw's story while paging through old editions looking for stories to reprint in their newspapers' "Yesteryear" columns. The columns reprint stories 5 to 50 years old. Some, however, reprint stories 100 years old. In 1976, the 50th anniversary of Wisconsin's most famous hoax, the Ladysmith News received a flurry of letters, apparently as a result of the storys' republication in the column. The Ladysmith News received more letters in 1981, the storys' 55th anniversary.
A book published in 1982 added to the publics' confusion. The book, Wisconsin's Famous and Historic Trees, reprinted Hinshaw's story without explaining that it was a hoax. In 1984, a newspaper copied Hinshaw's story from the book The story goes as follows:
"Recently a firm in Chippewa Falls acquired a tract of land near here. Monday morning two employees of the firm, Art Charpin and Walter Latsch of Owen, set about clearing the land for their company.
"They noticed a large basswood, and felled it. Even though it had a large home some 30 feet above the ground, it looked like good timber. Monday afternoon they struck their saws into the basswood at a point where they expected a cut would give them a 20-foot log and eliminate the portion affected by the large hole. All went well until about half way through the log the saw stuck in a rock. Latsch and Charpin cursed because they knew their saw blade would be dulled.
"After some labor, the men turned the tree trunk over and began a cut on the other side. Before long the same difficulty was encountered, but by turning the trunk about, the cut was finally completed, and the log rolled away, revealing what threw the men into a bad fright.
"There, staring up at them, was the ashen face of a man. And there, encased in the living trunk of the tree, was the entire body of a man, fully clothed in a coarse homespun and buckskins, which fell away when touched, and the head had been covered with long hair which had been tucked up under a Coonskin cap. With the mummified body in the hollow tree was an old muzzle-loading flintlock rifle and a muzzle-loading pistol of fanciful design."

[thom67]

I have a similar problem and it is contanct dermatitis. Started back in college when my hands would get soaked with caustic washwater from an automated dishwasher in the dorm cafeteria where I worked. When it gets bad I use a prescription cream. The best nonprescription is O'Keefe's Working Hands cream. Do a search for it. It works if applied religiously.

When sanding I use disposable nitrile gloves--more durable than latex.

[northwood bob]

I've ran into similar problems over the years. My dermotologist told me very much the same thing that Ron did. Staph germs are everywhere and the result from working with cracked skin allows the germs to "get under your skin". Infections are caused from dirty dirty hands. Keep your hands clean and use a lotion (lanolin) to keep them from cracking. You may have to refrain from carving ffor a couple of weeks. Cure the infection and keep lotion on your skin. If you see the skin start to crack again, treat it before it becomes a similar issue.

Bob

[toycarver]

I have the same problem, especially in the dry Winter months. I also sort and deliver mail...mail being paper...I think it is as bad as wood for making my skin dry. What I have done is, before I go to bed I put a little baby oil on my fingers and then I use a hand cream over that. I also sometimes use band-aids over the real bad splits. When it's real bad, I actually use latex gloves when washing my hair, as well as washing dishes (heh, not the same pair). These things all help quite a bit.

[-JBergs-]

Woodsman1st I know I'm a bit late in responding here but have you ever considered using chisels to do your carving? I assume you are holding your wood when you carve which means you likely use a knife...I know I know; I'm doing a lot of ASSuming here. But if you allow you work to be fixed via a carving vise of some sort you won't be in contact with the wood all that much... just a thought.

[Jrick]

First, thank you Curly Early for that link. SLS is in the various soaps we use around the house and probably does cause a lot of the problems I have with my hands. This sounds like it will hurt more than help but, every since I was a child, I have stuck my sore, bleeding thumbs in kerosene. The soreness is gone almost immediately and they heal faster. But they break open again w/in a few days. Evidently this is a folk cure that I picked up as a kid working on a farm. Like others, I also use lanolin and it seems to help a lot.