Blue Steel

[grizzlymc]

I have more chloro flouro carbons than a Chinese fridge manufacturer.

[Buff Orpington]

Ah, the happy days when the MoD allowed us to use trichloroethylene to hand clean cruddy components. One old boy on my team was extremely short sighted and would be mere inches away from the kit. You could hear him going, "ooh, ahh" as it splashed his face

[Etranger]

That would have cleaned his sinuses nicely...

[MarshalNey]

I think thats the stuff we used to clean the solder flux off printed circuit boards (1980s).

[Buff Orpington]

That's the stuff, Genclene by tradename.

[Buff Orpington]

Of course, that was before H&S got to grips with us. They even took our Tippex away from us because it contained toluene.
To be fair we were routinely careless. One guy down south was overcome by fumes and fell into a trichloroethylene bath. Took him about 3 days to die.

[grizzlymc]

I don't think I've ever seen that much chloro flouro carbon. A colleague of mine decided that rather than turning the bottle around to read the label which said HF VERY DANGEROUS TO DRINK AND INHALE, under a large skull and crossbones, he'd take the top off the funny bottle and see what was in there by smelling it, in a bush camp in PNG. Then, because there were no ill effects he didn't tell anyone for a couple of days. They did a sort of job reconstructing his face, but it never went back to the way it was before.

[MarshalNey]

We used to poor it into small-ish plastic boxs and dip a brush into it. I didnt mind the smell too much. Blissfully oblivious to H&S issues.

[Timmo]

Over the years PWS have had a number of changes. Originally the steel was 1mm thick, red oxide primed then sprayed black enamel. Then the steel got thinner at 0.8mm. Then the metal became galvanised so it won't rust. Next the red oxide was dropped. Finally the black paint was dropped completely. All these changes have been made to keep the prices from rising.

With the new bases my painting method ensures the paint won't chip at all. Wearing gloves (latex) clean them with cellulose thinners. Let dry then soak then in white vinegar for 30 mins. Wash thoroughly and let air dry. I then set them out on pennies to get the edges off the surface. Then in suitable weather prime using an acid etch primer. I use grey. I then finally spray with black enamel. The grey undercoat ensures I can see where I need to paint the black, i.e. if I miss a bit. Get it right and the paint will never come off unless you attack it with a sharp metal implement.

Personally I like the non-painted current version but the bases are quite a lot of effort to prepare. However, they will never rust or warp.

[Buff Orpington]

That sounds like the DS solution.
Back to killer chemicals, the smell of Genclene and it's derivatives never bothered me but it someone within 25 metres of me opened a can of Methyl ethyl keytone I was straight out of the area.