Following the recent asbestos discussion, and having now finished the book I was reading, I was trawling Flickr for pics of limpet and other asbestos applications. I came across these...
With hindsight: absolutely unbelievable!! I wonder what year this stuff was sold from and to?
[snip]
How many of us have used Rawlplastic? For the uninitiated, this was a very useful screw-hole filler. You simply took a handful of white powdery fibrous material, wet it slightly, formed it into a torpedo shape, and eased it into the hole with a little metal dibber. What a shame some of the fibre was asbestos.
Very handy if the hole your Rawlplug manual borer had produced was an awkward shape.
Chris
Nice history lesson but no longer on sale is it?
No - it was just for interest. That's why it says 'Old' Asbestos Applications. Not 'Asbestos applications that continue to be sold that I am moaning about'. ;-)
I think I do remember that, very vaguely. And I bet 'wetting it slightly' was often done with one's mouth? :-)
JW
How many of us still have a carefully hoarded tin of it?
Just don't get it confused with the snuff! ;-)
Makes you wonder what everyday products we use today will appear on the equivalent of Flickr in 50 years' time to the amazement of our grandchildren...
David
Rawlplug Manual Hole Borer - now that was some useless tool - but all I had at one time - it took ages to make a hole and using the hammer gave me blisters.
Ebay item: 230430336242.
I do remember it - sitting innocuously on my dad's workbench. :-)
Our grandkids will not believe that we would ever have eaten anything that contained hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Probably the angle grinder!
...you could just go into a shop and BUY one of these contraptions without a license!!?
Trouble is, although they are bad, there is no HVO-specific disease. Alzheimer's, obesity etc can all be attributed to other things. Unlike asbestosis and mesothelioma.
or eaten blackberries in march (flown in from Mexico FFS) and a) assuming we have grandkids, b) there's any viewable evidence for them to wonder at.....
Cheers JimK
I still have one of these, and still use it. It saves going and getting a drill if you need one or two holes in something that's not too hard.
There is no HVO-specific disease, yet.
Do not inhale while using.
Ever wonder why with the proliferation of asbestos and the number of people in contact with it there has been relatively few cases of asbestos diseases statistically
On average, about 20 construction workers die of asbestos related disease every week.
Presumably you think that is relatively few, statistically.
I disagree.
Because it's totally safe, and it was all a big cover up to make asbestos removal companies loads of money? :-)
Well in the instance of pure asbestos fibres being sold as fake snow, I'd guess it's because the practice stopped with the onset of WWII (still some
10 years after definite dangers were recognised officially). And that any deaths because of these said products wasn't picked up, due to lack of awareness in the general population. For the Rawlplastic, although it contained both chrysotile and amosite, it was small quantities, by volume, and by amount used. Also, no doubt, many of the people using Rawlplastic would have been handling brown/white AIB as well, further skewing 'case numbers'.And in any case, in 1999, 3,000 people died from asbestos related diseases.
3,400 people died road accidents accidents. What percentage of the population used asbestos? And what percentage of the population use the roads? Hardly 'relatively few' cases - statistically or realistically!Anyway - back to the 'out of interest' look at old asbestos products. I'm sure you could pick up some asbestos snow on ebay if you thought it fitted the bill, and was safe around the home. I only realised last night that the snow in the poppy field scene in the Wizard of Oz is asbestos!
JW
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required