I am not exactly an expert when it comes to woodwork, so I have a question. I have been using MEK to help me remove wood glue. Does anyone use anything else that doesn't cause cancer. I'm looking at a short life expectancy here.
There's always water when the glue is wet (although nobody's proved that water DOESN'T cause cancer...), or a chisel once the glue has just started to dry. If you have a lot of squeeze-out, you should probably use less glue in the first place.
Or are you talking about removing glue that's already cured from inside joints? For dissembly/restoration, I've heard that either moist heat or vinegar can help.
There's also a product called waxilit that can be spread on bare wood near your glue joint, so squeeze-out won't stick to the wood. The wax can then be removed with alcohol, and it won't interfere with finishing (or so they advertise - I haven't tried it).
I'd use anything else besides MEK!!!! I try to get it off right away with a moist paper towel. I've had to sand also. MEK is one of the first chemicals the Air force tried to get rid of starting back in the early 80s very nasty stuff cancer, birth defects etc.
is a pointer to the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for MEK. The stuff is flammable, the vapor makes you woozy, it dissolves the fat out of your skin causing irritation, drinking it is bad for you, but it is not a cancer risk. From the description it doesn't sound any more dangerous than gasoline. I don't keep gasoline indoors and I don't use it for cleaning stuff 'cause of the fire hazard. MEK doesn't vaporize quite as readily as gasoline, but it does vaporize and the vapors are heavier than air, which means they build up in a room rather than floating away into the air. MEK dissolves plastics, floor tile, some paints, linoleum, Krylon, and more, so a spill of even a small container can make quite a mess. They still sell it in ordinary hardware stores around here, so it isn't a sudden death kind of chemical. The solvents no longer sold are the older chlorinated solvents like carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethane.
You are correct in all but one point. MEK is highly evaporative. If you stick your hand into a bucket of MEK, when you pull it out, it will be completely dry in less than
15 seconds. I know, I have done it many times. If you leave a pan or bucket of MEK uncovered, it will be gone in less than
12 hours. This indicates to me that it evaporates much more quickly than gasoline.
FWIW, don't clean your glasses with MEK if you have plastic lenses, unless you just want to get new glasses.
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