Paint removal - masonary

I'm not sure it /is/ methylene chloride. The stuff I used was a two part gloop, with the second part being formic acid. Normally I'm a bit cavaliar about hazard warning labels - I paid attention this time!

Reply to
Martin Bonner
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Some of their other products, listed as "solvent based", are. They are/were running a campaign against EU laws banning the stuff

The stuff I used was a two

Reply to
stuart noble

which the senior tech in my first qc lab used to be dipping into all the time, for formulating stuff like this (even had instructions for resilvering mirrors - which looked so dangerous and explosive that I never dared even mixing the chemicals!). I never did manage to find one of my own, but did make some of the paint strippers.

Most of the paint strippers involved cellulose thinners; methylethylketone; tetrahydrofuran; dichloro-methane (methylene chloride). Methyene chloride was far and away the most versatile, and the most choking. These were generally thickened with paraffin wax - if you didn't have enough to fill an ultrasonic bath with, and simply dunk the item to be stripped in. (Why has the us bath not made itself into many kitchens and workshops I wonder: used to use it pretty well all the time in the lab. Oo and magnetic stirrers too!)

Then there were the alkali strippers: basically just caustic soda thickened to stop it running straight off (can't think of an ideal thickener off hand). And the 'bit of each'. Methanolic caustic potash was a particularly vigorous dip.

The two part product sounds interesting: not come across one of these before.

Problem with all these things is the vast amounts needed, and the price - even do it yourself. Moral: be careful what you paint, and what you paint it with.

S
Reply to
Spamlet

I think starch was the norm (although ordinary flour works just as well), but that made them impossibly gloopy. The problem with caustic strippers has always been keeping them in place on vertical surfaces where they slide and slurp as each layer is dissolved. Toilet tissue (and lots of it) makes quite a good "thickener", and absorbs the gunk well, if anyone fancies making their own.

Reply to
stuart noble

Clever idea.

S
Reply to
Spamlet

I've no idea whats used on US picket fences. If I were to paint such a fence I wouldnt choose simple lime putty though. There are a huge number of lime based paint recipes, varying from paints that have lasted centuries to temporary paints like whitewash. If you're interested I'll see if I can find more info.

Simple lime sticks to lots of surfaces but not everything. If it doesnt stick initially one can add 1% linseed oil.

NT

Won't that just float on the top or form lots of little balls? Yes, I've often wondered about those picket fences: I made one small one and it was a lot of work, and then the first lot of expensive fence paint just fell off, so I just use ordinary gloss: but I don't believe that would ever have been an option for the miles you see on TV.

S
Reply to
Spamlet

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