Safety Advice...

[Jerry B.]

We write a lot about working on broken springs and refinishing techniques, but I don't recall much mentioned about personal safety. If you have mentioned these things in prior threads, please consider this a friendly reminder.

#1 - I would like to suggest that safety glasses and leather gloves be worn whenever working on springs. There is a tremendous amount of energy stored in a coiled spring.

#2 - Whenever working with chemicals like paint stripper, lacquer thinner, or other chemicals, wear rubber gloves as well as safety glasses. I wear a better quality when working with paint strippers. For most other products I use inexpensive light weight throw away gloves. They are really cheap and provide a great deal of protection.

Others probably have good suggestions. Please chime in. Jerry Blais

[Chuck]

Hi Jerry,

Those are very good things for all of us to keep in mind when working.

It's very easy to be so involved in a project that one might tend to want to just drill that
one hole, or grind that one small thing without
reaching for, and putting on, one's safety glasses. It only takes once for a small hot metal chip to fly up and land in your eye and
that's very painful and a real hassle. Much easier to just take a few seconds and put safety glasses on.

As for noxious fumes, my one added comment is
that ventilation of the room is important if
a lot of fumes are given off.

An open window with a big box fan sucking the
air out of the space works very nicely.

Chemistry labs have fume hoods to do this.

Chuck

[mikejk]

Jerry, Chuck,
The best suggestion I had read, was the use of a five gallon plastic bucket for removing main springs from their barrels. The first time one got away from me, it was perfectly contained in the bottom of the bucket, no harm done. Everone most likely knows this already. Mike

[wjw]

Safety advice is always a good topic. I would like to go a step or two further on paint and varnish stripper as it's hard to imagine
playing with a more harmful product and for too long at a time. Good ventilation with this stuff means using it outdoors only. With that done, use of a charged-canister type respirator is still necessary. The fumes can explode and they will ruin your lungs if you allow it. Getting the stuff on your skin causes burns. I don't use it w/out goggles as it can blind you. Last but not least- have adequate water to wash the chemicals off should they get on you!

[Henry]

Amen to that! Even outdoors it can be problematic. Last summer I was using some of that orange stripper glop on a couple of small wooden arms from an aluminum lawn chair I was re-webbing; outdoors, nice day, turning my head this way and that fumbling with the webbing, alternating that with applications of the stripper, when without warning I became confused and disoriented to the point that I didn't know what I had just been doing, or what that roll of webbing was that I was holding in my hand. After about 45 minutes I recovered from that, but now had flickering and flashing in my peripheral vision. Went to doc, he ordered some tests (including MRI of brain, which revealed nothing ), etc. etc. Don't think I'll be using that stripper again!

[Phonofreak]

Henry, What was the name of the stripper? When you said orange glop, that rang bells in my head. I hope the product you used was not Citri-Strip.I use Citri-Strip. It is an orange glop that smells like oranges and doesn't stink. It is biodegradable and washes with plain water. I still recommend gloves and other protection. You can get Citri-Strip at any good hardware store.
Harvey Kravitz

Amen to that! Even outdoors it can be problematic. Last summer I was using some of that orange stripper glop on a couple of small wooden arms from an aluminum lawn chair I was re-webbing; outdoors, nice day, turning my head this way and that fumbling with the webbing, alternating that with applications of the stripper, when without warning I became confused and disoriented to the point that I didn't know what I had just been doing, or what that roll of webbing was that I was holding in my hand. After about 45 minutes I recovered from that, but now had flickering and flashing in my peripheral vision. Went to doc, he ordered some tests (including MRI of brain, which revealed nothing ), etc. etc. Don't think I'll be using that stripper again!

[Henry]

Harvey, it is indeed Citristrip! I note the label info: maximum VOC 925g/L. (volatile organic compounds 925 grams per liter). That seems like an awful lot to me! Now my bottle of Citristrip is several years old and it may not be the same formula sold today. Hope not!

[Phonofreak]

Henry, Wow, that's the first I ever heard this. I have been using Citristrip for close to 20 years, and never had a problem. I used my Citristrip a few days ago and had good results. My container is about 5 years old. I will definitely keep a watch on it. Thanks for the warning.
Harvey Kravitz