METH/WATER for hard hammers

[carl meyer]

Dear Susan;
Thanks for that good advice.  I don't know why I said methanol since I
don't actually use it.  Maybe I was only repeating what was said before.
I generally use denatured or isopropol.  I have a friend that is a PHD
chemist and I'd ask him but I don't really want to know that much about
it.  He has told me in the past that you can't be sure what it has been
denatured with so that is a possible problem.  It's like using baby
powder rather than pure unscented talk.  It may not hurt the baby but we
don't know what else is in it.  We use a lot of questionable chemicals
in our work so care is required.  I remember a class I attended in
Toronto given by a toxicologist who worked for the Canadian government 
that said lac thinner is really not too bad.  You'd have to drink a pint
to get to 50% fatality rate.  Breathing lac fumes may cause nausea but
normally no permanent damage.  However, 8 hrs a day for 20 yrs may be a
problem.  I was glad to hear that since I don't find the smell to be
objectional.  But he said he found out that hammer felt in the good old
days was impregnated with arsenic.  Now there's something serious to
think about even if trace amounts of arsenic helps to prevent carpal
tunnel syndrome.  
If you're coming to the State conv. next week, look me up.  I'll be
mostly in the exhibit hall since I'll be working there as host.

Regards

Carl



Susan Kline wrote:
> 
> At 04:18 PM 02/12/2000 -0800, you wrote:
> >If you can drink whats left over you would be tempted to use too much
> >water. You could use 100 proof vodka, but that is already 50% water so
> >that's already too much.  I favor methanol since there is a huge tax on
> >ethanol.  Besides the way to cut down on drinking is to put something
> >distasteful in your booze like say too much water.
> >
> >Cheers
> >Carl Meyer Santa Claara Ca.
> 
> Dear Carl,
> 
> I've been harping on this topic for a long time, and am terribly pleased
> to see any cracks in the monolith of piano technicians' (to me, fairly
> mindless) devotion to METHANOL. If a kid manages to find some methanol
> in your shop or house and takes a swig, it can, literally, kill him.
> That's why they usually dye it a tasteful shade of lavender, but with
> soft drinks so highly colored, that is not much protection. By the time
> a kid realizes it has a nasty taste, it might be too late. Plus, whenever
> you use it inside, you have to breathe it; if you use it at a customer's,
> they have to breathe it, and some of them are pretty ill or old already;
> and if it gets on your hands, it is absorbed through the skin. This is
> not good stuff to have around. Liver damage, eye damage.
> 
> The other options are all far better, IMHO. If the tax bothers you, or if
> you find yourself guzzling the piano supplies, get _denatured alcohol
> solvent_ at the local hardware. This isn't taxed as potable ethanol,
> and it is denatured, but it is only 4% methanol. The can doesn't reveal
> how much water is in it, but I think not much.
> 
> Personally, I feel no urge at all to nip into bulk grain alcohol that has
> been sitting around in a plastic bottle waiting for me to treat hammers
> with it. About like being so sugar-hungry that one eats last year's
> dusty jelly beans ....
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Susan Kline
> 
> -----------------------------------------
> 
> >Leslie W Bartlett wrote:
> > >
> > > It is always so encouraging to be a part of an organization that promotes
> > > the "waste not, want not" philosophy. So piano work can be nourishing as
> > > well as rewarding. What a concept!
> > > lesb
> > >
> > > >you can drink what's left over.