doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com new safety alert

There is no such thing as 1,1,1 tetrachloroethylene. There is : CCl2=CCl2(tetrachloroethylene-the old dry cleaning fluid) which will decompose under heat and there is CCl2=CClH (trichloroethylene - an anesthetic and degreaser) which is very ugly to use.Stay away from both.

The fact that trichlor is not sold anymore doesn't mean it's all gone. I have a bottle of Chlordane which was outlawed many years ago, and saw a bottle of DDT at a flea market this past summer. I sometimes go to auto parts swap meets. Vendors sell lead based auto paint, outlawed chemicals, etc.,much of it NOS in unopened containers. Anything to make a buck, and ignorance is bliss.

William, is that dry-cleaning fluid the same stuff that used to be called "carbon tetrachloride"?

No. Carbon tetrachloride is 1 C and 4 Cl's (CCl4).Used as a cleaning agent and fire extinguisher.If you are old enough, tear drop glass bottle as big as your fist,red in color,throw at base of flame. Bet Miller has seen them.

William, we had them in holders placed around an old farmhouse I once lived in in the 40's or early 50's if my memory serves.

Glen

Methinks the original story is the product of an overactive imagination.

Are you willing to spray some trichlor on rusty metal and MIG weld on it? I wouldn't. Having taken about a dozen inorganic and organic chemistry classes and lab courses gave me a healthy respect for some of the thousands of chemicals we encounter. I worked with two pipefitters and a welder who were overcome and suffered permanent nervous system damage while welding (arc) in a large waste oil tank in a steel mill. Investigation never determined what solvent or solvents were in there that reacted with extreme welding heat to injure and nearly kill them. Did you know that the largest source of dioxin (that's the nasty stuff known as Agent Orange) in our environment is the decomposition from burning plastic? This stuff is toxic and carcinogenic in parts per billion, not ppm as we measure most toxins. Ask the former surviving residents of Times Beach, Missouri the results of not taking care with chemicals. We U.S. taxpayers spent billions in Superfund money to relocate the whole town and bag it up and send it to a hazardous waste facility. But as the old Monsanto commercials once said, "Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible." You betcha.

the label says don't use around welding operations because of heat /gas conversions.that should have been the first clue not to use it as the cleaner of choice for that day.that is what we should believe. mc

Right mc. We need to read and heed the labels of the cleaners and solvents we use when soaking stocks, blueing, or cleaning guns. Some of this stuff is nasty, and we may not realize that until years down the road when we are diagnosed with some cancer.I never forgot a safety poster that the professor put up in organic chem lab. It was a picture of a hand made out of sponge. It said something like "This is how your skin is to most organic solvents."

William,
Had my spelling wrong (not an unusual occurance) but, I remember the labels warning about this stuff in years past,

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/trichlor.html

Haven't seen anything labeled with it in a few years. The solvent that keeps spray paint from hardening in the can is the same one used in zip strip, and nasty as hell, too. Methylene cloride? About zero safe yearly exposure, if memory serves.

I exceeded that amount in several years. Hope for the best, eh?

Best,
Ted