Storing Chemicals

A lot of the industrial supply houses sell the flammable storage cabinets, but they are costly. I have an old metal wall box that I use. It’s not a double walled box, like the ones they sell, but it might contain a fire for a little while. It does have a lip around the base, so it would contain a little bit of spill. One other thing to check with storing chemicals, is to check the MSDS on each one and find out what NOT to store it with. That’s a fire in the making right off the bat.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) that Tim is talking about is very important. I’ll just bet that there are very few LJs who have them. You should have a different sheet for every chemical you have in the shop. All you have to do is ask the company for them and they’ll make sure you get them. It’s the law.

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

http://www.msds.com/ Here it is. All on the web.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

Kudos to Tim and Junior for referring to the MSDS. I am one of those guys who in his day job actually writes those things. Usually most folks read them after something goes wrong. Same with labels. I always say there are two kind of people in the world, those who don’t read labels and those who lie.

If you don’t find the information you are looking for try calling a given company. Most chemical companies have a technical customer service person somewhere. They are not the person answering the phone and may be hard to reach. It is like getting tax help from the IRS. Start off by asking whomever answers a complicated question. They usually won’t know the answer and would rather transfer you to someone who can help, then to try and find out and get back to you. Also sometimes when you call this number they may send you a sample of their product to try. The company I work for used to make some great wood glue but they only sold to industrial accounts in large quantities. But they would send out a quart for someone to try. Sorry but we sold that division or I would give you the number where to call for your freebee.

Read the label, if for no other reason than someones job depends on it.

-- Ron, Kutztown, PA "The reward is in the journey."