my wifes been complaining about how i bring the poly smell home.
i have separate clothes that i use at the shop, but my regular clothes are stored in the glass room, so they
pick up alot of the smell. she keeps asking me if the smell is volatile. its like a perfume stuck in my clothes.
so now its made me wonder too. is it bad for you?
wishing you all a happy new year!
It’s fine aside from being a neurotoxin and carcinogen.
Keep a large garbage bag handy at your shop. Put your to and from “street” clothes in the plastic bag while you are at your shop working. Some days my clothes smell, some days not. Depends usually on how much resin or sanding dust I get on my T-shirt and pants. Sometimes I forget to put my work clothes on. But a garbage bag should keep the smell off your clothes. Just take proper precautions such as gloves, respirator and long sleeves. I used to be a member of The Lions Club. We met Thursday nites. Lots of smoking and drinking. Cigarette smoke was bad enough that I had to remove my clothes in the garage and deposit them directly into the Washer. The hype over Poly Resin is much like the hype over TDI that was used all those years at Clark Foam. Forty years of operation. One worker came down with Cancer and there was no proven connection to the chemicals used in the process. Smell is smell. Just like some housewives curl up their lip and nose when they get a whiff of latex paint. Which is primarily inert. If you don’t like it don’t use it. If you don’t like Epoxy(which also has a foul odor), don’t use it. You can always pay a Glass Shop to do the dirty work. Or even better; Get out of the biz altogether. If the Pilgrams had known and were fearful of Bears, Mountain Lions and war painted Indians; They never would have boarded the Mayflower etc.
Latex paint is indeed inert. Poly resin is not. There is a well studied connection between exposure to many “smells” and diseases including cancer, Parkinson’s, etc. One worker at Clark may have come down with cancer but I’ve seen quite a few just on Swaylocks and among old, surf factory acquiantences.
The styrene in poly resin is the most hazardous component. Some people are just scientifically ignorant. Best to ignore what they say.
One of the reasons I switched over to epoxy was for the reduction in VOCs. Another reason I switched over was to get away from being around Acetone.
Of course, getting sensitized to epoxy is its own hazard.
LIving in NorCal by the coast, very rainy and wet days, wife out of town, I laid cut up carboard boxes to cover kitchen floor and glassed one in there. She never had a clue Bwa-ha-ha
I’ve done that, too; except I did it right in front of her. Shoot, I’ve done vacuum bagging in my dining room, too. (aquarium pump is pretty quiet)
Poly resin, its fumes and byproducts, epoxy resin and its byproducts, foams, dusts and what have you - they are certainly not good for you. We don’t know how bad for sure, there isn’t the long term data. Plus people vary a lot in how things affect them: lung issues, skin problems, how much or how little one tends to get cancers.
But by the same token, there was a time when arsenic powder was taken( inhaled) to improve the skin. They didn’t know any better at the time. Lead compounds as skin powder, the list goes on. Washing your hands with acetone after working with resin. We all did it, didn’t know any better. Let’s not forget tobacco- I just got out of the hospital last night because of the joys of tobacco. Major heart attack. But I can remember smoking promoted as ‘healthy’.
And I’m here to tell you that having a major health issue, plus time in the ICU, plus hospital time, in the midst of this pandemic with people deathly ill nearby and contageous, that is absolutely fucking terrifying. Besides which, the food is awful.
Anyhow - as has been said, you want to limit how much you’re exposed, at the least you don’t stink of resin fumes. Or bring it home to share with the family. How resin fumes plus other stuff work out, we really don’t know, yet, best not to be part of that experiment… Respirators plus anything else. coveralls, gloves, all that is probably a really good idea.
doc…
I remember many years ago bidding the painting of a newly constructed Waldorf School in Davis, Ca. Been years, but I think it was a Waldorf, if not some kind of private yuppy earth friendly enviro school. It was constructed from bales of straw and plaster. Don’t have any idea how they ran the electrical in bales of straw. Anyway I read the specs in the 0999 and found that the paint and primer was to be “Milk Based”. I opted out. As I didn’t want to work with nor be responsible for materials I had no knowledge off. A few months later my Paint Sales Rep informed me there had been a problem with the Milk Paint. A month or two after completion the Milk Paint soured… Stunk up the whole place. The school was closed until it could be reprimed and repainted with plain old interior latex paint. I guess stinkin’ up the environment can be pollution too.
We all need to take proper precautions with regard to the materials we use.
I take my precautions, but love every part of making boards.
im about the only glass shop there is in this country, so getting it glassed somewhere else is not an option.
not that i would anyways, glassing is fun. smell is smell, yes. but does it fry braincells?
too many hurdles to jump with epoxy for my liking. about the VOCs, are those numbers scientific or manufacturer numbers?
not much smell, but theres still fumes. not to mention the dust from sanding it.
sorry to hear that doc. stay safe and healthy.
hope you are feeling better.
for sure. always room for improvement
Yes. Pretty much exactly like sniffing glue!