Hummm Gene. As I recall I mentioned to you a very nice urushi imitation
with great sound qualities, and complelely non-toxic chemistry can be made with
several layers of red or black tinted shellac. Now I'm wondering if I
should say "told you so".
This is the punishment you get for being purist on this issue - all you zen
student take note :-)
At 01:07 PM 11/20/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Man - lemme' give you dumb new shakuhachi makers (like me) a tip: BE
>CAREFUL WITH URUSHI!
>
>This is the third day of my "attack", and I'm in the running sores stage
>(ugh!), up all night, every night, scratching and sloshing alcohol on the
>affected areas to kill the nerve ends. Although I could not have touched
>urushi to these areas, I have patches of rash on the back of my left knee,
>my left shin, my right side, my right ear, my left hand, my nose, my right
>eye and lips are all puffy, and - ugh! - the most sensitive of all
>unspeakable areas.
>
>It has gotten worse every day for three days.
>
>And my wife now has it on her right forearm, and she never touched urushi!
>
>And I used only TWO DROPS of urushi. Literally.
>
>Now admittedly I did thin the urushi with lacquer thinner, creating
>perhaps two or three ounces, but I have no recollection of ANY of it ever
>touching my skin. And, if any of it did, it was certainly only a
>microscopic amount.
>
>Actually, I was tinting the outside of the root section of the shakuhachi
>I'm making, like many of the Japanese shakuhachi makers do. Just to
>darken up the naturally dark area there a bit more. I was not using it in
>the bore. I'm using an Epoxy compound there.
>
>And this urushi poisoning also has a physiologically debilitating effect,
>a sort of nauseous yucky feeling. . . .
>
>Learn from my ignorance, you newbies: take care!
>
>Gene
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