Tandy Catalogue From Australia

[bermudahwin]

In the UK if you buy Oxalic Acid crystals, you must sign the poisons register.

I have used it to clean very dirty leather, and also wooden table tops, but am never overly comfortable with it. With care it does a great job.

H

[Handstitched]

Here in Oz, some hardware shops keep their contact adhesives & acetones etc  locked up.

Sign of the times I guess.

HS 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2018 by Handstitched

[Matt S]

10 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Here in Oz, some hardware shops keep their contact adhesives & acetones etc  locked up.

Sign of the times I guess.

Toluene (the "fun" ingredient) was taken out of everyday contact cement over here a couple decades ago but about half of hardware stores keep it under the counter or in a locked cabinet due to the amount that walks out the door of its own accord. Acetone, meths, butane and other stuff that can be used for a quick high always sit on open shelves though...

I think locking up stuff that is likely to get nicked isn't exactly a modern phenomenon.

[YinTx]

Barkeepers Friend is sold in the cleaning section of pretty much every grocery store and super market here, and consists of 7.5-9% Oaxalic Acid.

 

https://www.barkeepersfriend.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/SDS_BKF_Cleanser_Polish_6-12-15.pdf

Has some feldspar in there, which just settles out to the bottom I think.  Anyhoo, people clean all kinds of stuff with it, no signing anything.  Works great too!

YinTx

[bermudahwin]

On 31/10/2018 at 10:38 PM, Matt S said:

Toluene (the "fun" ingredient) was taken out of everyday contact cement over here a couple decades ago but about half of hardware stores keep it under the counter or in a locked cabinet due to the amount that walks out the door of its own accord. Acetone, meths, butane and other stuff that can be used for a quick high always sit on open shelves though...

I think locking up stuff that is likely to get nicked isn't exactly a modern phenomenon.

Hi Matt

I have been looking for toluene based contact cement for a few years, for leather onto metal. We used to use it in the factory I worked in. If you know of any stockists in the UK I would be grateful.

Thanks

Harry

[Matt S]

5 hours ago, hwinbermuda said:

I have been looking for toluene based contact cement for a few years, for leather onto metal. We used to use it in the factory I worked in. If you know of any stockists in the UK I would be grateful.

Harry, check out Howstik 441, available from Abbey in 1l or 5l tins. This is what I use regularly for leather-on-leather where Renia 315 isn't suitable, though I haven't had occasional to use it for leather-on-metal. 441 is miles better than Evostik, which I used to use -- it's thinner (therefore wets out better), shrugs away grease much easier, bonds stronger, is cheaper, and is less likely to go off in the dispenser. It can also be reactivated with a few passes of a heat gun. It thins with normal contact cement cleaner/thinner, which is about £6/l from Amazon. The only thing I don't like with it, apart from the fumes, is that it's not much good for bonding vinyl.

Abbey also list Solibond 949, which is a neoprene (polychloroprene) based contact cement. I've not used 949 as I'm quite happy with the 441, which is less expensive, however I understand that the 949 is better for bonding plastics.

Both 441 and 949 list toluene between 10-30% by weight in their safety data sheets (amongst other volatile solvents), which are available through Abbey's website. Both adhesives appear to be manufactured by Anglo Adhesives Ltd -- I'd suggest contacting them rather than Abbey for technical information.

Harry if you've worked with toluene-containing glues before you'll be well aware of the fumes but to anyone else who may be tempted to try them out I feel I must put a bit of a warning. There's a reason why toluene is used in glues: it works bloody well. There's also a reason why it was removed from consumer-grade glues: it's nasty stuff. To quote Wikipedia: Inhalation of toluene in low to moderate levels can cause tiredness, confusion, weakness, drunken-type actions, memory loss, nausea, loss of appetite, hearing loss, and color vision loss. Some of these symptoms usually disappear when exposure is stopped. Inhaling high levels of toluene in a short time may cause light-headedness, nausea, or sleepiness, unconsciousness, and even death.

People mature enough to use tools, solvents and machinery without supervision are responsible for their own safety and what you decide to do is your own business. When using any but the smallest quantities of toluene-based glue I use a respirator rated for organic vapours, basic fume extraction, and limit my exposure however I can. I'm on my last set of lungs and I aim to keep them functioning as well as I can for as long as I can.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Matt S

[bermudahwin]

Brilliant, thanks Matt, I'd missed them. Excellent summary, I appreciate it.

I used to work at Regent Belt on their light leather goods design side. So am used to it, and trained with it.

That said, I am pleased they didn't test for driving under the influence after work.

Everyone else... this is dangerous stuff, and should only be used in very well ventilated places. And now I will also use carbon filter mask.

Harry

 

[Handstitched]

This is off topic I know, but I used to use toluene    during the making of fibreglass pools. ( in another life) .

'  'orrible stuff '  .  

  Toluene makes rubber expand.  A  large size rubber glove would soon be an XXXL rubber glove ....it also burns skin ( and eyes)  on contact....as I  found out  making pools. Never ran so fast  in my life ...to the wash room. ( pre-' Worksafe ' days) . 

It was also used on the rubber rollers on the   printing presses at a newspaper I once worked at....yet another life.

It was never EVER  good to use this s**t on a hot day either.    

I'd rather keep my distance from this stuff !!!! 

HS 

[chrisash]

Hi Matt

Your first paragraph wetted my apertite to try it out

The latter paragraph's made me thinkagain and keep to evostick, after all if you pull to parts stuck with evostick its the flesh that breaks away rather than the glue, so thats fine with me

[bermudahwin]

It was never EVER  good to use this s**t on a hot day either

Jeez, mate, I'm in the UK, it never gets that hot.

You're spot on regarding the nastiness, but if you're covering a flask it's the mutts nuts

Edited November 6, 2018 by hwinbermuda

[Matt S]

1 hour ago, chrisash said:

Hi Matt

Your first paragraph wetted my apertite to try it out

The latter paragraph's made me thinkagain and keep to evostick, after all if you pull to parts stuck with evostick its the flesh that breaks away rather than the glue, so thats fine with me

If you use leathers with little or no grease Evo Stik works just fine. There's even water-based glues that will work for that application. I like Renia 315 wherever I can get away with it but I've used PVA, Copydex and Fiebing's leather cement (a modified PVA I think) before, all to good effect. Bonding bridle back-to-back I can get away with using water-based glue if I can shave a bit off the back, since most bridle leathers aren't nearly so waxy once you get beyond the surface.

I use a lot of heavily waxed/greased leathers and I have no choice but to use the 441 for a really solid bond. It's not as bad in practice as the safety-sheet says. The important thing, as with all risks in life, is to reduce the dangers with the use of common sense to the point at which the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Yes theoretically I could die from toluene exposure but equally theoretically I could drown in the bath.

I have an extractor fan in front of which I do my glueing which theoretically changes the air in the shed twice every minute. Large areas of glue are placed outside to go tacky in the open air so they're not off-gassing into my breathing air. The glue dispenser is closed as soon as I'm not using it. The jar of solvent in which I clean brushes is tall enough for the lid to be closed with the brushes in, so again it's not off-gassing. I wear a respirator rated for filtering organic vapors any time I'm using any but a very small amount. Safety-sheets carry a lot of important information but they are partially an arse-covering exercise -- just like the ones they provide in boxes of aspirin. There are people who have died after taking an aspirin so, even if that's just once out of the millions of times a year people in the UK take aspirin without ill effect, they put that in the small print so the manufacturer and distributor can't be found liable in the event that someone does cark it after taking a 5p aspirin.

Evo-Stik can work very well. Which version do you use? I mostly used the red label DIY type. Tried the green label "professional" stuff a few times but didn't notice much difference, nor could I figure out from the label, the safety-sheet or the company's website exactly what the difference was supposed to be. I found that thinning the stuff a little increased the quality of the bond and the nice thing was that I could pick it up from any DIY store if I ran out, though I would try to find somewhere with a quick turnover so I got a fresh tin. I have some of the blue-label repositionable stuff but never got on with it, too thick, like a paste.

[chrisash]

Tried the Timebond but found the tin dried up half way through so now use red one