OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

262578 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2017‑06‑26 Galootish Odors
Ed Minch posted a photo of WD-40 Aftershave.

About 20 years ago, someone referred to WD-40 as "The Galoot Aftershave" it was
funny then, and it's funny now!!! Thank you, Ed, for brightening every galoot's
day!

IIRC, it was The Mariner's Catalog that had a recipe for deck oil which included
Pine Tar and Kerosene.  The writer suggested that if you used this, you'd
acquire a certain seafaring olfactory aura, and that "Jack was Every Inch a
Sailor" would become your theme song.

Way back in the 1970's, a buddy poked fun at the Old Spice ad campaign which
featured a cheerfully whistling sailor from the age of sail. Rob said "Yeah, it
makes you smell like old rope!"

Last Fall, I refinished an old toy box for my grandson.  I wiped it with a mix
of Danish Oil and Mineral Spirits. I liked the smell, but the little guy didn't!
Of course it faded with time.
  
We are living at the end of an era.  Many of the familiar finishing materials
are actually harmful to human health or to the environment.  They will become
unavailable.
Linseed oil and beeswax will survive, but whether decent mineral spirits will
available is a question mark.

Don't be tempted to "stock up", lest your heirs be left to deal with disposal.

John Ruth
262583 Don Schwartz <dks@t...> 2017‑06‑26 Re: Galootish Odors
On 2017-06-26 6:09 AM, John Ruth wrote:
> Don't be tempted to "stock up", lest your heirs be left to deal with disposal.
This brought back memories...

One branch of my wife's family was in the extermination business. For 
many years, they had a stockpile of old-school rat poisons and such 
stored in a quonset hut out in a small town in southern Manitoba. It 
eventually became illegal to transport these materals so they stayed 
there until a small tornado happened nearby. The quonset and its 
contents were untouched, but they had to get special license from 
government officials to move the materials to a hazmat disposal facility 
somewhere in the Dakotas.

In a former life, my wife & I kept bees, and used cyanide powder to kill 
off the colonies before winter set in. In those days, it was considered 
uneconomic to overwinter them, as bee packages were readily available at 
little cost. But we moved and gave up the bee-keeping, and sold our 
equipment But a small container of cyanide powder remained in our garage 
until I called the fire dept. to ask about disposal. A police cruiser 
arrived shortly thereafter, and after asking a few questions about our 
possession of the stuff, had the accompanying hazmat team - in full gear 
-  take it away.

Don

-- 
It’s cheaper to end poverty than to maintain it.
262588 Gregory Hahn <greghahn@s...> 2017‑06‑27 Re: Galootish Odors
This may be wandering farther afield, but here goes:
Early in my winemaking career, I was hired as a Lab Tech at a not-to-be-named
large winery in the Central Valley (CA). Our lab had a caged off area in the
warehouse where was stored old equipment and chemicals that weren't currently
needed, but might still be useful at a future date. I decided to inventory the
chemicals so we would know what we had.  I came across an old jar of Picric
Acid, a name I recognized from my father's pre-WWII high school chem book's
chapter on explosives (still have it), also known as Di-Nitro-Toluene,  only
2/3rds as explosive as TNT. It gets cranky with age, so I backed away slowly and
told my lab manager what I had found. We had the Army bomb disposal unit come
out and take it away. Luckily no further REPORT occurred.
-Greg
262590 Don Schwartz <dks@t...> 2017‑06‑27 Re: Galootish Odors
On 2017-06-26 6:19 PM, Gregory Hahn wrote:
> This may be wandering farther afield, but here goes:
> Early in my winemaking career, I was hired as a Lab Tech at a not-to-be-named
large winery in the Central Valley (CA). Our lab had a caged off area in the
warehouse where was stored old equipment and chemicals that weren't currently
needed, but might still be useful at a future date. I decided to inventory the
chemicals so we would know what we had.  I came across an old jar of Picric
Acid, a name I recognized from my father's pre-WWII high school chem book's
chapter on explosives (still have it), also known as Di-Nitro-Toluene,  only
2/3rds as explosive as TNT. It gets cranky with age, so I backed away slowly and
told my lab manager what I had found. We had the Army bomb disposal unit come
out and take it away. Luckily no further REPORT occurred.
> -Greg


Got to wonder what they were using it for at the winery or vineyard. 
Stump removal?

Don

-- 
It’s cheaper to end poverty than to maintain it.
262596 James DUPRIE <j.duprie@c...> 2017‑06‑27 Re: Galootish Odors
this one didn't have a detectable odor, but there was the time I was cleaning
out a cabinet, and discovered a litre bottle of "100% Pure instrument grade
mercury"...
-J
262598 Erik Levin 2017‑06‑27 Re: Galootish Odors
James Duprie  recalled:
> this one didn't have a detectable odor, but there was the time I was cleaning
> out a cabinet, and discovered a litre bottle of "100% Pure instrument grade
> mercury"...I still have one of those around. Back in the 1990's when I was
doing 70's vintage 4 cylinder inline honda bikes, it came with a JC Whitney carb
balancing kit. I never used it, as colored water was easier to handle and less f
a spill issue. I think it is about a full pound.


As for the odors, some of the classic oils are my weakness, especially whale
oil. I'm not old enough to have bough any, but I have worked ion some equipment
over the years that was lubricated with it, and have used some NOS from sealed
bottles.
I am curious why a winery would have picric acid, though. 
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262599 Erik Levin 2017‑06‑27 Re: Galootish Odors
Well, five minutes at the bookshelf may have provided an answer for the picric
acid question... I should have looked ten minutes ago...
One use was for quantitative measurement of glucose levels by the Lewis and
Benedict method (via comparative colorimetry). I couldn't find any other obvious
relevant use, other than possibly the antiseptic application. *** This message
was sent from a convenience email service, and the reply address(es) may not
match the originating address

Recent Bios FAQ