Chinese-made dead-blow hammer stinks.

[Robatoy]

I picked up a cheap 2lb dead-blow rubber hammer from Princess Auto (Our Kanuckistani equivalent to Harbor Freight) and left it in the van for a day. When opening the door, the whole van just reeked of some off-gassed rubber. I then noticed that a rubber air-hose had the same strong smell. Also made in China. (The GoodYear hose doesn't smell like that) To top it off, my kid bought a volley-ball set and the ball was also stinking to high heaven....to the point we had to leave it outside... it made us nauseous. Next thing I know, I'm back in Princess Auto for something and the whole store smells like that. What kind of sub-standard crap is stinking like that? Are they're not bothering to cure it properly or is it just bad rubber to begin with? I mean, I openend a tool-case with a cordless drill in it, and the handle had a rubber over-mold, it darn near knocked me on my ass. Phewww.

I think I justabout had it with that Chinese crap.

r

[EXT]

Had a hand cart that I bought from Sam's Club, it stunk out the garage for a few months, especially through the summer heat. The cheap rubber is the cause, it eventually off gassed most of the smell and now I don't notice it any more.

[Swingman]

I built some shop drawers out of Chinese ply and the fish glue smell will knock you on your ass after almost two years.

If you've ever been to China you would know that this, and the rubber smell you're having trouble with, are the things that actually smell good!

[Malcolm Hoar]

Speaking as one who's just returned from a month in China...

Bollocks!

[Swingman]

LOL ... ya gotta be kidding?!??

just that tofu, or whatever the hell it is, in ANY of the ubiquitous open air markets would gag a maggot off a gut wagon a mile away. But since it's for sale, there are those who obviously can't smell it on their upper lip.

BTW, sorry to hear about that lingering cold/sinus problem ... hope you got it cleared up. :)

[B A R R Y]

We have a saying about cheap Chinese products at the bike shop. The smell that comes out of the box is a mix of:

1.) Paints outlawed in the rest of the world. 2.) Body parts caught in the machine that rotted in the 40' container during shipping. 3.) The sweat of forced child labor.

It is a noticeable smell, too.

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[Robatoy]

I tell ya... I bought a few sinks from a Chinese distributor a few years ago, and I swear that it took weeks to get the stench out of my shop. The cardboard was just disgusting and the slab of pressed wood- fibre which was in the box to protect the sink, must have been made from pressed dog-shit and fish bones.... held together by a mixture of mung and panda vomit. The excrement of that fibre-board got into my fingers..and even after I washed my hands several times, every time I picked my nose....wait...I said too much....

[B A R R Y]

You definitely know... THE SMELL! 8^(

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[Robatoy]

You mean that scent in the Beijing Hilton? That would be piped in pot- pouri.

If Chinese markets ( and I have visited many in other major cities on the planet) are any indication, I'd have to side with Swing on that one... that cheap rubber smell ain't so bad in comparison. Funny thing is, I absolutely love authentic chinese cuisine. Schezuan in particular.

r

[jo4hn]

Sheesh. You really shouldn't equivocate so. grunt, j4

[Robatoy]

Well, I usually like to get to the bottom of things.........wait...

[Peter Huebner]

Our neighbour is a bit of a loose canon, buying stuff at auctions. So he bought one of those auto winding drums of air hose (to use with my petrol compressor for fencing purposes), when I pointed out to him it was 50 feet and not 50 metres, gave me a goggle-eyed look, pressed the thing into my arms and said 'here, you have it'. Of course, it's made in China and he got it for the price of 4doz eggs.

The damn rubber or plastic on that hose was disintegrating from day one. You'd pull the hose out, and your hands would be red, your overalls would be red ... did I mention the seals? What seals? Hsssssssssssss. The compressor would start every 15 minutes without any usage by me.

Seriously, just how stupid do those XXXXXXX [censored] speak: [nice Chinese manufacturers] think we are? Or is it them thats so stupid?

-P.

[Leon]

If their products were not selling here, their products would not be here. I think that they are probably pretty smart to be able to unload inferior products on us. So it is probably that most of "us" are stupid.

[Robatoy]

On Aug 5, 5:35 pm, "Swingman" wrote: [snip]

Uh-oh.. look what I just stumbled onto:

---------------------------------------------------------------- British pubs in need of aromatic makeover LONDON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The recent passage of a smoking ban throughout Britain has created a new problem for pub-goers, the stale and foul smells the smoke once covered up.

The Sunday Times of London said a lack of cigarette smoke in British pubs has revealed the quite unpleasant odor of sweat and stale beer, prompting one company to begin placing fresher scents inside the pubs its manages.

Included among the unique smells now filling Mitchells & Butlers pubs are freshly cut grass and a pleasant ocean breeze.

Oliver Devine, a marketing manager, said such smells became necessary once the true smells of pubs were laid bare by the smoking ban.

"Appetizing food smells have increased but others are less attractive, such as stale food and beer, damp, sweat and body odor, drains and -- how do you put this nicely? " Devine said, "flatulence."

The newspaper said similar scents were used in Scottish pubs when that nation put a smoking ban into effect a year ago.

[Doug Miller]

Not to mention selling them guidance systems that improve the targeting accuracy of their ICBMs.

Doesn't even come close.

[Dave Gordon]

...or the taste!

[Dave Gordon]

They have your money. Who's stupid now? ;-)

[FoggyTown]

Although your slitty eyes and insatiable craving for rice cakes still worries you.

FoggyTown

[FoggyTown]

That's nothing compared to the delicate aroma wafting from the "fresh" meat section of the souk in Tripoli, Lebanon on a 90 degree day!

FoggyTown

[Swingman]

Two things might be worse my olfactory experience ... "durian" in Indonesia, and _real_ "menudo", made the authentic way, in rural Mexico.

To say that both smell like week old road kill is putting it mildly.

I've eaten menudo in old Mexico, not the stuff sold here in the US, and at first it took quite a bit of tequila to get it there, but it was good once you got it to your mouth.

Durian, I simply could not get drunk enough to get to my lips ... and that's saying something back in those days.

Then there was some of that rotten fish juice in SE Asia, Nuoc Man (sp?), but I liked that right off the bat because it went well with rice, and I'm enough of a coonass to accurately estimate how much gravy it takes to cover an acre of rice.