Back hoe dead, what to do?

[logwalker]

I've been using starting fluid, ether. It works great and I figure medical science has been using it for a 150 years with no health warning yet. And it really, really, works.  LW

[highpockets]

See, it ain't so bad.  Just jump off in it.  Success lies where the fearful dare not tread!

We use casinghead when we can get it.   It is the high ends of natural gas production.  Man, it will light up if you aren't carefull.  My grandmother said poor folks had poor ways.  I guess so.

[sawguy21]

ATF works like a darn too. There should be lots of that around after the tranny job. ;D

[ScottAR]

Joe's handcleaner is the best I've used...  Smells like bubble gum...  Permatex makes some good stuff too for takin' off paint and autobody stuff. 

Laquer thinner works in a pinch...  don't get cut or it really hurts...  Don't get it under your watch either... 

[Coon]

The best hand cleaner I have found in these parts is good ol' laquer thinner but I have also used a product called LAVA made by WD40.  It works pretty DanG good too but is rather hard to find and when you do it is only a small pump bottle of it.  Have never seen any larger sizes of it.

Glad to hear that you found your probs with the hoe.  With any luck that seal and a lil more of your time and trans fluid you'll be up and hoein' around. :D
Brad.

[Dana]

Just a suggestion on laqquer thinner, don't use it! Laqquer thinner has a Material Data Sheet that is two and a half pages, that lists the names of the chemicals contained in it. It goes by an innocent name, but is anything but. ;)

[sawguy21]

I soak parts in it but not the paws. It dries skin very quickly.

[jpgreen]

My favorite hand cleaner is plain old GoJo with no pumice.  Makes a good laundry pre-treat too..

[Coon]

One can not always help getting your hands into laquer thinner......  especially in the autobody trade whe you go to clean paint guns and such.  I know that it should be used very carefully but can't always be so easily done.  Just think when I first started in autobody I used to use rubber gloves when cleaning putty boards and paint guns etc.  I used them twice as a matter of fact and quit the use when the thinner simply melted the rubber gloves right on into my skin.  Since then, I have just been wise at ways to clean the equipment, and fortunately I am out of the autobody and mechanical trades except for my own personal uses.  I don't often use laquer thinner any more.
Brad.

[submarinesailor]

I remember years ago when we painted submarines with polyamide epoxy based paint.  The standard rule was to take diesel fuel and greenies, Scott Brite pads, and scrub until you were clean.  Many times while crawling around the missile deck superstructure, we would become covered in paint.  NOTE:  Cleaning it of your bottom and other sensitive parts was not fun.  But, years later I was working as a beltway bandit and the task was to write a tech manual on inspection and painting of the submarine superstructure – boy did I learn what not to do.

The main point of all this, is for you to remember that as you use solvents to clean paint and other products off your skin.  Not only are you adsorbing the solvent thru your skin, but you are thinning the paint and you are adsorbing it also.  Polyamide is NASTY stuff!!!!!!!!  I only use hand cleaners to clean with now.  I don't care how long it may take.

[thurlow]

A good quality NEW/UNUSED high detergent engine oil will remove almost anything from your hands.  Any good hand cleaner will then remove the oil...............

[Nova]

I'm with submarinesailor on this one.  Solvents, in addition to lifting the oil based product from your skin, will pull the protective oil from your skin - hence the dry skin.  Worse however, is the solvent being absorbed thru the skin and into the blood stream because many solvents can act as carriers for some chemicals.  At the microscopic level cells are designed to allow certain chemicals in and to keep others out.  Solvents can cut thru the cell walls like a hot knife thru butter and pull nasty things in with them which can damage your DNA (this is one way cancer starts) amongst other things.  People who work with solvents, without taking proper precautions, are increasing their risk of a number of illnesses, both acute and chronic.  Of the latter, liver, kidney and brain cancer are just a few as well as leukemia.

Logwalker, be careful with ether, it is extremly flammable and it is toxic if used in an enclosed space.

[Dana]

Coon, they make Nitrille Gloves and respirators for a reason.  ;) The gloves and respirators are cheap, when compared to a doctor. (gloves -$15.00 a box of 50, respirators - $18.00)

[highpockets]

Flip, it seems we got off on hand cleaners and I wasn't sure if you got the tractor running. 

[flip]

Yep.  All running fine now.  Just have to get everything pressure washed and get a coat of paint on (since we're going to all the trouble anyway).  Runs great, thanks for asking.

Flip

[highpockets]

Glad everything worked out.


Someone on here said   "Success lies where the fearful dare not tread! "   I love it.l

You can eat an elephant if you'll do it one bite at a time. 

[Coon]

Glad to hear you are back hoein' around :D :D :D. 

Dana   I always used a respirator when working in the autobody shop.  It made no sense to me to be wasting my brain away by not doing so.  Gloves however at times are not easy to work with, especially if they do not fit right.  The best cure for the solvents is to get out of that environment.  Hence why I got out of autobody and got the sawdust makin' back in my blood. 

Brad.

[james]

good trick i learned from my dad for removing grease etc... from the skin b4 you start work  coat your hands with  manual dish washing soap when you are through working the crud just washes off the soap fill the pores and keeps the grease out :P :P
james