Another "Don't Do This" thread

[deaconjim]

Originally Posted by Le Petit Norman

Sorry to hear about that.

Looks like you reach the point were you became allergic to mortar. It can happened over night with chemical products. I am a chemist by trade and have been working with chemical product for years without issue until I got allergic to them, make my shift funky as I still need to use them.

if you have glycerin available, use that it will help get your hand moisturized

Hope your hand heal quickly, keep them well protected until you have fully recovered and also use a lot of cream this winter as thing can get bad with cold winter

No, it's not an allergic reaction. I have chunks of flesh missing from the tips of my fingers.

[deaconjim]

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

My local feed store had nitrile gloves this year - they are rubberish on one side and mesh on the other. they were great for gardening - easy to pull weeds but tough enough to last the whole year. They didn't work so well in paint thinner. You might try something like that since you really need the abrasives off your hand. They were $6 a pair so I bought four pairs.

As for a new kitchen tool - you will probably find that it will cost less than a man-tool from a hardware store. Buy the wife a new one (her choice of color) better than the one she has if you 'borrow' one from the kitchen.

DW says to buy the new spatula, and get one for her at the same time.

[Sarabeth]

Originally Posted by deaconjim

DW says to buy the new spatula, and get one for her at the same time.

[oz in SC V2.0]

I know concrete will cause chemical burns,when I worked marine construction we were pouring a boat landing and we had to get in and push the concrete out,one guy on our crew(we were the barge crew,drove the pilings and did the water side of things) never wore 'real' shoes.Anyway he went in barefoot into the concrete,it ATE his feet up afterwards.

What might have happened is your hands and fingers became so soft from the concrete that bits of the skin simply came off.

You almost worked your fingers to the bone...LOL

Hope your hands improve.

[Rick]

We used Ansell, latex dipped rubber "type" gloves for our cordwood project. They are indestructable - but they are a little stiff and take some getting used to as far as dexterity.

I bought 6 pair after we poured 100 feet of footers, and I thought rinsing my hands every 5 minutes would keep my skin from suffering. Nothing like you wound up with, but many burning cracks developed on my hands, and a patch of eczema on my right palm that split open the day before wound up with concrete set in the pits.

[Vickie44]

At night I coat my hands with bag balm or vaseline ( real thick ) then wear thin plastic or rubber gloves while I sleep. Is usually much better by morning

[GrannyCarol]

Am I the only one that really doesn't like nitrile gloves? I tried them when washing bathroom fixtures and found that my hands were freezing cold in them. I couldn't stand them. Give me good old leather working outside.

BTW, you ought to be able to get things like spatulas at thrift stores for practically nothing.

[Farmerwilly2]

I'll throw a couple things out. I'm guessing you tried using a regular brick trowel? I've laid up some stone and found the two best tools where a margin trowel and a thin joint trowel (think long rectangles, 2" and 3/8" wide). Stone is easier to lay up if you dress it up a might (cold chisel and hammer). Lastly, the stone mason that taught me gave the same advice that my pop passed along, stone mortar should be mix pee poor 1:1:6 (portland, slaked lime, course sand) was what they used. Brick and block mortar was too rich for stone, wouldn't handle the flex of stone work.

Almost forgot---you can have razor sharp edges on some broken stone (ask a flint knapper how sharp a flake you can get). Might be that what cut your fingers up.

[deaconjim]

Originally Posted by Farmerwilly2

I'll throw a couple things out. I'm guessing you tried using a regular brick trowel? I've laid up some stone and found the two best tools where a margin trowel and a thin joint trowel (think long rectangles, 2" and 3/8" wide). Stone is easier to lay up if you dress it up a might (cold chisel and hammer). Lastly, the stone mason that taught me gave the same advice that my pop passed along, stone mortar should be mix pee poor 1:1:6 (portland, slaked lime, course sand) was what they used. Brick and block mortar was too rich for stone, wouldn't handle the flex of stone work.

Almost forgot---you can have razor sharp edges on some broken stone (ask a flint knapper how sharp a flake you can get). Might be that what cut your fingers up.

Yep, I used a brick trowel. This was my first ever attempt at any kind of masonry, so I obviously have much to learn. I knew I could spend a little time "dresseing up" the stone, but I know even less about that than I do laying it, so I just laid it the way I found it. This will be up in the field, so appearences won't count. I'm using a mixture of type S mortar with thinset to help it hold water. So far that's working well, except one spot that leaks.

None of the stone has been broken, so there arent' many sharp edges. I think the wet mortar may have softened up the skin, and the roughness of the stone supplied the abrasiveness to really do a number on the fingers. Most of the swelling is gone now, but there are still some mighty sore spots.

[taylorlambert]

You have concrete poisoning, Its nothing to play around with either. I had a friend loos a foot over some getting into his boot. On Heavyequipmentforums.com theres a thread on it right now. I got a spec on my arm one time that got bad to.

[oneokie]

What you are experiencing is the effects of the lime in the mortar. Similar to what would happen if you coated your hands with quick lime or lye.

Any type of rubber glove, even the yellow household gloves will work. Put the rubber gloves on and then a pair of jersey or leather gloves to protect the rubber gloves from abrasion. The mortar will harden and destroy the leather gloves in a short time.

[deaconjim]

Originally Posted by oneokie

What you are experiencing is the effects of the lime in the mortar. Similar to what would happen if you coated your hands with quick lime or lye.

Any type of rubber glove, even the yellow household gloves will work. Put the rubber gloves on and then a pair of jersey or leather gloves to protect the rubber gloves from abrasion. The mortar will harden and destroy the leather gloves in a short time.

I believe you are right. It does appear that I have chemical burns rather than simple abrasions. Did I mention that they are painful? Some lessons you learn the easy way, some the hard way.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

My fingers got pretty bad jointing our hearth (pics on our blog below). It was worth it!

[maddmatt]

You have concrete burn, wash the wounds in vinegar to counter it.

[deaconjim]

Originally Posted by maddmatt

You have concrete burn, wash the wounds in vinegar to counter it.

I've heard people recommend that, but I've also heard people who've tried it say it makes it worse. Putting an acid on already injured tissue doesn't sound particularly appealing, to be honest.

It does make sense to neutralize it with something. I used a paste of baking soda and water. Milk may also be a good neutralizer.

[Old John]

Originally Posted by taylorlambert

You have concrete poisoning, Its nothing to play around with either. I had a friend loos a foot over some getting into his boot. On Heavyequipmentforums.com theres a thread on it right now. I got a spec on my arm one time that got bad to.

I also had a friend who poured concrete for a living. He had a hole in his boot and a cut on his leg........The concrete soaked through his socks & got into his bloodstream. He lost most of his knee cap & part of a toe bone, on his right leg. He had a Hospital stay. And he couldn't walk for a while.
He got out of the business........

[fixer1958]

I've had that happen a number of times on both hands. Tried both cloth and leather gloves till they got holes in them. I finally got a heavy plastic bag and cut the corner out and used it like a cake icing gizmo. Saw a cooking show on tv is where I got the idea.
I didn't have a dressing trowel so I used a tablespoon.

[meanwhile]

I have used an old pair of socks before. I just put the socks on my hands, spread the mortar, rinsed the socks off and used them again the next day. My hands did get a bit "muddy" and wet but the sand gravel scratchy part did not cut my fingers up.

Also I put vaseline on my hands after I was finished. Good luck

[dragonchick]

The reason for putting vinegar on a concrete burn is that vinegar is acidic and the concrete mixture is alkaline. Usually this is done the other way around and not with concrete mixes. I imagine it will burn like liquid fire when applied.

Cornhuskers lotion will help with the dryness caused by the mortor mix but it does sting a bit the first few time its applied. This is one of the best lotions for hard working hands thats EVER been on the market.

[oregon_prepper]

First, the chemical burns on your RAW skin! BTDT, you need to have chemical intervention, from your chemical burns, not just first aid!

I worked concrete, mortar, plaster, and gunite... all have the same chemicals which are alkali's ...

people understand acid burns, but seldom think the other way: alkali.... I am not a doctor so I will not offer the remedy for same, but offer what the ~problem is~, and it can be severe!

Now as for working the mortar... we used several products, ALL free: Margarine lids, and Plastic milk jugs were both great objects, the lids, very bendable, right? the Milk Jugs, cutting them apart will give you larger flat areas, as well as pre formed corners of a given radius! much cheaper than even a used spatula! we used the sides (flats) like sand paper to smooth down and even shine up the plaster on swimming pools, where we could not use regular pool tools. Used the lids for grout lines as well, developing a set radius for lines so they are uniform.

Hope that helps

(and yes we used Bag Balm) a LOT!

philip