PPE -- It was the best of times , it was the worst of times...

[cbaltrin]

You know, I had a great day of model building this past Saturday. Wife and kids were out of the house for various reasons and I had several hours of peace and quite to focus on finishing my little ki-84 from Arma Hobby. I got all the painting / weathering done. I was really feeling good. Then while cleaning up--specifically, while re-capping all my airbrush cleaning products, I clumsily bumped my lacquer thinner bottle while attempting to put the cap on. This resulted in LT shooting out the top of the jug and coating my un-gloved thumb. I have had odd spits and spatters of LT and other solvents get on me in the past, but this one got me good. Well I cleaned my thumb as best I could. That was two days ago and it seems fine --Hopefully no long term effects from absorption. I really need to re-double my efforts toward wearing proper PPE when I work. I had a glove on my left hand but not one of my right hand for some reason. Now, I already googled all the bad things that can happen from getting LT on my skin, so please do not attempt to cheer me up by telling me again here. Just sharing this to encourage everyone to always wear their PPE.

[mostrich]

Good point, Chris!
Always protect your skin and respiratory system from all the nasty stuff we're dealing with as modelers.
Of course you can go the safer way by only using water soluble products, but they're still chemicals. Plus, the hotter stuff is mostly superior in terms of drying / curing time, durability and workability.

Pro tip: Wearing a paper bag doesn't help!

[Gary Brantley]

Many years ago when I began working for my mom's brother, Uncle Elzy, a painting contractor, one of my jobs was removing paint that had been sprayed onto cabinet pulls, hinges, etc. I did that by pouring lacquer thinner on a rag and then "melting" the paint way, rubbing with the LT. I did that for hours at a time. I've also cleaned paint brushes with a final rinse in LT many times. The tiny bit of exposure that you had, Chris, shouldn't harm you. But, it is nasty stuff and deserves respect. Note that I would not clean paint off hinges like I did back then now.

[speedgraflex]

Thanks, Chris. I did have to look up “PPE,” though. Maybe like the rest of us I grew up around a generation of craftspeople slash relatives who weren’t overly concerned about the effects of solvents and thinners, despite those folks having advanced engineering and chemistry degrees. Actually Gary’s story resonates because I saw a lot of that kind of behavior when paint stripping old cars and houses. I have more or less fond memories of this kind of tough guy behavior, that’s for sure, but I do wear PPE! Thanks again.

[Stuart]

Good point well made Chris - we can use a lot of nasty stuff in this hobby, thankfully in small quantities for the most part, but it does deserve respect.

I have several similar stories to Gary - especially when I was an aircraft engineer. One of my first jobs every was to climb down the rear fuselage of a D.H.C Chipmunk that was being restored and brush paint the interior with Lacquer paint from a glass jar... I was as high as a kite by the time I was finished.