Polyethylene Glycol

[Brian White]

Anyone know where a woodworker could get PEG? Thanks!

[Bruce Rowen]

I remember buying a gallon jug for a humidor. I found it at a local feed store. It was sold as a medication for cattle and came in a jug for $8.

-Bruce

[Andy Dingley]

Not quite the right stuff. If you're trying to stabilise timber with it, you want a high molecular weight like PEG-1000. The stuff used for cattle is about PEG-400. It might work for a humidor, but it's not really enough for things like log disk tabletops etc.

Most woodturning suppliers will have it.

-- Do whales have krillfiles ?

[Charlie Self]

Brian White asks:

Lee Valley.

Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker

[Dan Valleskey]

how does that differ from RV antifreeze?

Just curious.

-Dan V.

[John Crea]

You sure that wasn't PolyPropylene Glycol for that humidor??

PEG is toxic and I am not sure if it will provide the 70% RH that you were aiming for in your humidor. PolyPro Glycol will do the 70% RH maintenace, which is why it is used in many commerical humidor humidification systems

John

[Bruce]

Spoke too soon John, yes it was polypropylene glycol (the stuff you can eat

8^)

-Bruce

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 16:39:24 -0700, John Crea wrote (in message ):

[Silvan]

No idea, but I hope it does. Dr. Pepper used to have polyethylene glycol in it.

I noticed they took it off the label some time back. I have no idea why it was in there, but I sure hope it wasn't toxic.

[Andy Dingley]

Antifreeze is usually ethylene glycol, not the polymer.

There's also a non-toxic version, which is polypropylene glycol. I've used that for stabilising timber, but it's less than perfect.

-- Do whales have krillfiles ?

[Andy Dingley]

I first used polypropylene glycol on our dairy farm, because cows love the sweet taste of the other stuff and it's toxic for dairy.

However polyethylene glycol _is_ sometimes fed to cattle. There are US research groups who are training cattle (presumably beef) to eat toxic plants by feeding them antifreeze as well.

Do whales have krillfiles ?

[Dan Valleskey]

RV anti-freeze is not the same as what goes into your car radiator. I pump a gallon of it into my RV (drinking) water system every Fall. Non-toxic. Cheap, and easy to find.

-Dan V.

[George]

JEEZ, sitting in front of a great research tool and propagating baloney.

PEG in polymers from 50 to about 500 is a common ingredient in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Read the labels. It's used as an "intestinal lubricant" as is mineral oil, but with greater predictability in the elderly.

PEG is indigestible, therefore NON-TOXIC.

[Bruce]

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 18:51:49 -0700, Andy Dingley wrote (in message ):

-Bruce

[Andy Dingley]

"ketosis". It's what makes the Atkins diet work. Whether it's good or bad depends on which side of the argument you're on, and whether you're trying to eat well, or to lose weight. And probably whether you have hooves or not too.

I really must look into ethylene glycol metabolism in cattle. I always regarded it as something pretty toxic (certainly in milkers), but it seems that it might have a use in redressing some diet-triggered imbalances.

-- Inbreeding - nature's way of always giving you enough fingers to count your cousins