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In the "waterbased finishes" thread Tim McKnight talks about health problems he has noticed from the use of nitro and states that, " I think the problem is the month long of off gassing. I keep the finished guitars hanging in my wood room and that's where I do all of my glue ups to (and I must admit that I don't wear a respirator in there) and I should.'

On this note, should the same precautions be use (respirator) when working around waterbased finishes off gassing?

Also, do most of you let your guitars dry away from your work area or in it? TIA

Ive never noticed a smell or fumes from my guitars while gassing off, both with KTM 4a and KTM9, maybe its just my nose, but I have never smelled anything.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Having spoken with Target at length, I DO know that waterbased finishes like their PSL and similar finishes, like all waterbased finishes, are NOT non-toxic. They still use some nasty ingredients, mainly for cross linking if I remember correctly. But, the bright side is that the amounts are far less than the toxic compounds found in nitro, so waterbased IS much less toxic overall.

As far as off-gassing goes (and this is my speculation), I would think that gassing off the finish would have far fewer toxic compounds than traditional nitro.

I can smell KTM-9 off-gassing but it's not nearly as bad as McFaddens, I just keep a fan running and it seems fine...

Nitro or Epoxy is much worse to me..

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Y'all pray for me. I love the smell of nitro. Not that I'm huffing or snorting. It just smells good to me.

And confession is good for the soul.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I know what you mean Steve. I feel the same way about fiberglass resin and that stuff is suppose to be nasty for your innards.

C'mon guys (and gals), any other confessions?
Anybody love to sniff Acetone?
Anyone with a craving for Naphtha?
I once--as a child--accidentally inhaled some carbon tetrachloride. I do NOT recommend that. In fact, it could be that all my problems stem from that one accident.

Be careful.Steve Kinnaird38380.9673263889

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

ROFL . So much for shop safety.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Don, please..... what would it take for you to get rid of that creepy spider? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Y'all pray for me. I love the smell of nitro. Not that I'm huffing or snorting. It just smells good to me.

And confession is good for the soul.

Steve[/QUOTE]

MEE TOOO
I love that smell. Reminds me of Jay Rhyne's old shop. I remember going into his shop and the air was just saturated with that odor. He must have done his spraying in the entrance foyer.
I also like the smell of auto garages. I think its a mix of brake fluid, gasoline and gojo.
And old tractors. They all have a leaky carburator thing going on and that mixes with dirt and oil and smells like farming the good earth.
There you have it. I'll not mention night air in swamps nor smoldering landfills...another time perhapas
John Kinnaird38381.2548263889

Yup.

When I was a trim carpenter, my work would sometimes overlap with the paint crew. Back in those days unfinished Ash paneling was all the rage. These guys would come in and spray the walls with stain, then lacquer---until you couldn't see across the room. Total fog. And there wasn't a respirator on any of them. (I bet they're all gone to their reward by now.) I couldn't hang around for that. Even then I sensed that couldn't be good for you. Nonetheless, I still like the smell.
And you're right about garages. Good stuff.
Sort of a masculine form of aroma therapy.

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

When I was a kid I loved the smell of that stuff! The new Un-leaded just don't cut it.

I used to like the smell of gasoline. Not sure why.......but I was a weird kid anyway.
Still am.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Not so bad really. I like the smell of cow pasture after the morning dew.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Walnut off the bandsaw, now that smells good.

yup

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Can't say I ever remember the smell of a morning cow pasture but I do love the smell of a freshly plowed field. There's something about that smell that just makes me feel good........much better than nitro, fiberglass and even a good gas/oil mix

Or how about the smell of rain after a dry spell? Huh, now that's a nice smell. I even like the smell of onions or garlic mown down with the lawn mower.... now I'm getting hungry.

Now that's a cool spider, Bruce!!

I figured if you can't beat 'em join 'em.

Don's spider gave me the heebie-jeebie's, so now I'm desensitizing myself with this albino spider, you know black hat bad, white hat good, that sort of thing.

Do you get the geckos climbing around your house there in Hawaii? My friend on Maui had 'em even inside and it was a fairly new home. Cute little beggars.

Yep, we've got 'em. We usually catch the ones inside and toss them out the door (otherwise they leave poop marks on the walls). I love to watch them do that spiderman type landing on what ever they come in contact with. Amazing critters.

I figure Don has that spider because it reminds him of his shop- what shop doesn't have a spiderweb in one of it's corners?

[QUOTE=Dickey] Walnut off the bandsaw, now that smells good. [/QUOTE]

To amplify good wood smells:
    padouk and brasilian rosewood off the band saw
    Freshly split oak

But NOT
   India Rosewood or Honduras rosewood on the bandsaw. An old luthier friend once described that odor as horse urine and that really poisoned the well for me.

I dunno, I find Indian to be fairly pleasantly sweet smelling. Brazillian's just gorgeous though, and padouk is nice if sometimes overly sweet.

[QUOTE=John Kinnaird] To amplify good wood smells:
    padouk and brasilian rosewood off the band saw
    Freshly split oak. [/QUOTE]

Bloodwood. This one's new to me--and I'm sorry about that. It smells sweet. Love the aroma off the saw. AND, it looks great paired w/ walnut or Indian rosewood.
(How's this for topic drift?)

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

reminds me of hickory smoked bar-b-que,if you don't get too much dust/sniff. But padouk is (to repeat myself) like cotton candy at the fair.

What was the original topic. Must check that.

Snowed in today. Imagine, Atlanta Ga and I can't get out of the garage. Of course it will all melt by Monday and I can go back to work