chemical cautions

[abn]

Ethyl Acetate is the solvent used in deglazer among others. The normalized breakthrough time (NBT) for nitrile (exam type gloves, 4mil) is one minute. Also nitrile which is a cyano group product can break down to a cyanide ion so this could have been the tingling. For longer contact butyl rubber gloves would be the best bet (still a short time period

As always you have to do your homework here as it's your body at risk.

Art

Art recently posted the above response when someone mentioned their fingertips tingled when using deglazer. Now that I've read this, I know deglazer is a nasty product to work with, and Art provides some good suggestions for how to work with it in a safe manner. (Many thanks.)

My question is this: Are there other chemicals that are routinely used in leatherwork that we should be cautious about when using? What are the dangers and how can we avoid them?

I haven't spent much time thinking about this topic, and it's probably worthwhile for me and others to start. If you have any experiences or suggestions, please share them for the good of all of our health.

Thanks, -Alex

[Johanna]

Neat Lac is toluene.

Inhalation of toluene fumes can be intoxicating, but in larger doses nausea-inducing. Chronic or frequent inhalation of toluene over long time periods leads to irreversible brain damage. As toluene has very low water solubility, it cannot exit the body via the normal routes (urine, feces, or sweat) It must be metabolized in order to be excreted.

Ventilation is an absolute necessity when using Neat Lac, and if you get a headache, you've already breathed too much. Stop immediately and go outside.

My grandfather, a master woodworker, died of cancer probably caused by repeated toluene exposure, according to the doctors.

Johanna

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toluene

[David Genadek]

Alex,

I used to work for Dyo chemical Co so I was around all the products a lot. I had my best friend who is a chemist go throughthe MSDS with me and the one product that really lit him up was the deglazing fluid. Most of the of the other products the body can process with out to much trouble however prolonged exsposure to any of them is a problem. I say this as one with a rare diesease that prevents my body from processing B12 some think it may be to the prolonged exposure to the dyes and glues. I have always been pretty careful about using gloves and a ventalator and a booth but chemicals are chemicals. Putting it in perspective I use anywhere from 30 to 50 gals of dye a year and about 25 gals a year of contact cement and about 25 gals of the white glue. My exsposure is probable greater than most if your buying 4 oz of stuff at a time your exsposure will be minimal.

Deglazing fluid is nasty stuff and I consider a chemical for professional use only. Although when I worked with Shoe refinishers I saw some things that made me wonder why they were not all dropping dead or blowing up. Smoking while they were using deglazing fluid.

David Genadek

[bruce johnson]

Alex,

David touched on it a little, but getting the MSDS sheets on all liquid products you use is a good idea. MSDS is an ancronym for material safety and data sheets. It is in a prescribed format for chemical compostion, physical proerties, clean up in case of spill procedures, health risks and first aid, etc. for the product. Every manufacturer (and most distributors have them as well) has to provide these to the user on request. I backed into it second handed several years ago. I am the "safety coordinator" at work and religiously collect MSDS sheets on all liquids we use. Several years ago our safety consultant came in for a walkthrough. I had some dye, Barge, and other chemicals I picked up at a local Tandy during lunch. Didn't want to leave them out in the hot truck all afternoon. Didn't have the requisite MSDS sheets for them and got the ol' hand slap. At that time some of the sheets provided me were about 10th generation photocopies, and barely legible. Thought about this over this past weekend when I came across that file. I am going to update, and many firms now email or have websites set up for MSDS distribution. The MSDS sheets mainly apply to liqds or pastes, solids are for the most part (but not always) exempt.

If you have a business license and get an OSHA or even a fire department inspection, they will want to see the MSDS sheets. My FD advised me to try to bring out the MSDS books in case of fire if I can do it safely. Can give them a better idea sometimes of what they are up against.

Bruce Johnson

[Art]

Hi again Alex,

Acetone and Toluene are two others that come to mind, both have contact problems and both definately have inhalation problems and obviously you shouldn't drink the stuff.

Contact:

Acetone -- Butyl Rubber Gloves

Toluene -- Viton Gloves.

The trouble with industrial chemicals is that they are industrial and mitigation involves industrial prices:

Butyl Rubber Gloves are $22 a pair (14mil)

Viton Gloves are $60 a pair.

You can't use viton gloves effectively with Acetone or Ethyl Acetate.

Respiration:

The minimum respirator for both chemicals should be a WELL FIT half face with organic vapor cans. If you can afford it get a full face with organic cans and better yet external air with organic vapor filters. This is industrial stuff and won't be cheap; they will last forever if taken care of and your lungs and body are your responsibility, court settlements don't make-up for carelessness. If you get the full mask, your eyes and face will have protection too.

If it smells, take it outside, to a fume hood, or a spray booth.

Toluene is also an insidious little bugger as the body must metabolize it instead of excrete it. About 95% of it will be converted to benzyl alcohol which is ok, well not really but better than the other 3% which ends up as benzaldehyde and 2% which is other cresols which are both proven carcinogens.

Do not dispose of Toluene in the ground, this is probably its biggest danger. It finds it way right to groundwater and this kind of contamination is 100 times worse than inhalation. I only have to bring-up Love Canal to emphasize my point. Hooker dumped a lot of benzene in Love and it caused a lot of cancer and birth defects (if you take into account the small size of the community). Toluene is methylbenzene and every bit as dangerous.

Please take what I say with a little salt, incedental exposure will not turn your kids into frogs, but we have to realize that there is a line somewhere that we just don't want to cross. Take it outside, turn on the fan, put on your respirator and gloves, and for heavens sakes dispose of the waste properly.

Art

P.S. I'll go through my leather chemicals and see what else is in there that we might want to know about.

Art recently posted the above response when someone mentioned their fingertips tingled when using deglazer. Now that I've read this, I know deglazer is a nasty product to work with, and Art provides some good suggestions for how to work with it in a safe manner. (Many thanks.)

My question is this: Are there other chemicals that are routinely used in leatherwork that we should be cautious about when using? What are the dangers and how can we avoid them?

I haven't spent much time thinking about this topic, and it's probably worthwhile for me and others to start. If you have any experiences or suggestions, please share them for the good of all of our health.

Thanks, -Alex

[Steel Dragon]

Something else to consider with these chemicals. I had purchased that can of Deglazer over a year ago but never used it. It's just been sitting on a shelf in my (home) office.

When I opened it the other day it was half empty. So I'm assuming that it has been evaporating and passing through the can somehow. It had to go somewhere right? Well after thinking about that I just ran upstairs and removed the can and it is now out in the garage. Anyway, I thought this might be something else to keep in mind.