Plywood waterproofing

[pashbe1]

Yeah, my comment was directed more towards the inexperienced. But in all seriousness acetone is toxic and is absorbed through the skin. Only forced air respirators work w/ acetone (white respirator things are good for nothing at all, even 3* admits this). So if safety gear is available why not use it? In large scale laminating acetone is indispensable, but for amatuers not necessary.

[hansp77]

For amatuers, generally the sort of safety gear you are talking about is not an option. Unless of course they put their vacume cleaner on reverse, sticky tape it to a plastic bag and tie it around their head!
Doesn't work for me- Hayfever-
plus I don't like to put my cigar out

Now just about everything is dangersous, and a lot of us probably get a bit more toxic exposure than we should - just by breathing city air-

In my work as a screenprinter, we use acetone extensively. The industry standard that I have witnessed here (which really doesn't say much) is that it is used without gloves or repirators (not even the little white ones).
A few of the brand new printed tee-shirts that you buy would probably at one point have been saturated with acetone (to remove those acidental hand prints and stuff- plastisol paint is one of the messiest things I have come across) (and not washed).

If acetone is so bad, then we had better tell the girls to stop painting it on their nails everytime they want to change colour. If we are to take this as an example of how long term exposure affects the human body, brain and mind, then…

oh my god…
Pass me my vacuum cleaner quick…

[pashbe1]

Haha. Thats good. I'll be trying it. Just kidding. I'm totally with you on our society having gone nuts on the safety thing. Everybody wants to be protected and nobody wants to be responsible for their own actions. Even the TV bombards us with scare tactics pushing antibacterial cleaners for every surface and even the air. How did we survive so long in this deadly world?

Of course forced air isn't available. I don't have it and an amatuer certainly won't. I use a full face from 3m. Doesn't do much good for acetone but it keeps the smell down but I do try to use safety gear when I have it. Exposure to things like acetone, wood dust, and epoxy doesn't kill you, but it can impact the quality of your life. I know a professional yacht finisher who never wore a mask or gloves for 30 years. His hands shake so bad he can't hold a coffee cup, his speech is slurred and there is a constant rivulet of spit at the side of his mouth. A friend of mine is sensitized to epoxy. That impacted his livelyhood. Another friend got a splinter right in his eyeball from a chop saw because he wore no eye protection. Another friend and myself have suffered permanent hearing loss because we never wore ear protection. How smart is that. My wife doesn't appreciate having to repeat herself, and the neighbors don't like to listen to my TV! Just kidding.

So were possible and I use safety gear. I also don't remove gaurds from saws or drive with a cell phone in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.

p.s. Hans, there's non-acetone nail polish remover for your fingernails.
p.p.s. I don't like putting out my cigar either so maybe in light of smoking being so bad maybe we should just ignore the above rant!

[fiberglass jack]

acetone is bad for you it is absorbed through the skin and into you liver same with your lungs just about every thing you will use working with resins is harmful wear gloves and a bad mask is better than no mask,Ive been working with resins for close to 20 years and never wore a mask or gloves and wash my hands and arms with acetone even used it to wash resin out of my eyes ,now i wear gloves and if spraying or close spaces a mask it catches up with you use to smoke 2 packs a day now 1 doctor told me i have the lungs of a 70 year old chain smoker and iam 38 most of the damage is from resin it goes hard in your lungs and takes a piece of them when you chough it up WEAR THE SAFETY **** ITS A PAIN I KNOW we all think were tough

[pashbe1]

Hear, hear!

[hansp77]

aye, aye!

[djwkd]

Hi,i was just wondering if it is possible to avoid using epoxy and use something less expensive.

thanks.

[fiberglass jack]

you can use polyester resin or vinyalester a lot cheaper but will not last long

[caymaniac]

been trying to battle this thing called water intrusion for years.
WWW.epoxyproducts.com/ has some interesting articles and products.
Search Aluthane. I Have Started to use resin boards for bulkheads to combat the rot problem. Just a thought