Official Luthiers Forum!

Friends (and I guess the rest of you can read this, too )--

I've spent some time today engaging in e-commerce to significantly step up my PPE game, in preparation for upcoming finish experiments. In my Internet meandering, I found the below-linked document from 3M that confirms what many have anecdotally told me: Isocyanates will mess you up, BAD, so take serious precautions when using products (like some of our favorite modern finishes) that contain them. Here is the link:

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/777 ... update.pdf

Not a new document, and not new information, but I think it helps explain the point with just the right amount of detail for those of us who did not get that far in the study of chemistry.

I am sure that, for many of you, providing this warning is stating the obvious and beating that old, dead horse (poor horse). But you know, there are a number of things in life that are far worse than overkill. Chief among them is underkill. So, even if it is an old message, please protect yourself from the stuff that makes our guitars shiny.

Isocyanates are indeed, very dangerous chemicals to breathe -- but there are a lot of chemicals you don't want in your lungs with waterborne paints too. The point is that anybody doing spray finishing should be fully protecting their lungs and body.

If you do mess with isocyanates -- I strongly recommend wearing full body protective gear (Tyvek suit with gloves) -- a respirator with a good VOC cartridge is fine for the small amount of spraying needed with guitars. Just be sure to replace the cartridge before it goes bad. I replace mine after I spray 4 guitars -- I build in batches of 2. I could probably use these for significantly longer than I do (maybe 10x) but I don't want to entertain any risk. Once you open a VOC cartridge, place it in a ziplock bag when you are done -- it will continue to filter the environment and will go bad in 6 months -- the ziplock bag will slow this down from what I've been told.

To make sure your mask is working, go over and smell from a container with VOCs (acetone or MEK work great for this because of their easily identifiable smell) -- you should smell absolutely nothing before you start spraying. IF you begin to smell anything at all, change to a new filter immediately.

------------------------

If you take proper and reasonable precautions, then spraying some of these dangerous paints can be made perfectly safe.

Nicely timed warning. I've also seen a few posts recently about cyanoacrylic getting into eyes, as if breathing the fumes isn't bad enough......

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Ahh yes a squirt of thin CA directly to the eyeball - the luthiery rite of passage

Which I could do very well without...

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thanks, Don.

Prompted me to order cartridge refills for the respirator. They were due.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

Also, you should store your respirators in and airtight container like a zip lock bag or some such thing, it helps preserve the cartridges.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

A lot of things in this world, and especially OUR world are harmful in certain ways. Frankly, I don't need some quasi gubment agency to tell me about it. I try to read about what I use, how to use it, and why. Informed is forearmed, or some such stuff.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

3M is a large manufacturer of products in Minnesota that includes respirators. They provide information about their products that you can read.

Ya got that right.

_________________
Say what you do, Do what you say.