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9 comments
Molecular biologist by trade, so gloves are second nature. They do keep your hands clean, but they may not offer as much protection as we often think, and may give a false sense of security. The Area heath and safety coordinator and H+S team had to look into some of this stuff, for example methanol can get through standard nitrile in about 30 seconds, and carry things through as well. Back in the day we all knew that DMSO went through latex like it wasn't there and people almost got drunk in this way. At work I can constantly throw them away, I do sometimes deal with some horrible stuff, and in the main we don't want to contaminate the work, but at home I do tend to reuse. Just be a bit careful with the nastier stuff.
The thing you have to remeber with Swarfega is to rub it into your dry hands BEFORE you rinse it off. If you apply it to wet hands it's much less effective.
I bought some Swarfega a year or so ago as I had fond memories of it from my youth and was expecting great things...alas, like smaller Wagon Wheels and Tobelerones, I was disappointed.
As above, bought nitrile workshop gloves and solved the problem completely.
Wear some gloves yer dirty buggers.
I too initialy thought why not just use the latex gloves? I then started to wonder which was better for the environment? I don't know the answer but I may end up just using the gloves for on the go emergency stuff and use the Swarfega for work completed at home.
I'm often wondering this when it comes to cleaning my chainset. Do I use a few baby wipes and add to the landfill, or hit it with the chemicals (degreaser/white spirit*) and pollute the drains?
I've cut down on my baby wipe habit recently by using cut up old T-shirts and socks, but then I wonder if baby wipes are more or less biodegradable than gunk-impregnated cloth.
*I've tried the eco stuff and it just doesn't work so well and I end up using five times more and still end up reverting to the white spirit.
I got some of this orange Swarfega a while back and it smells like sick now ! It stills removes oil and grime but has it gone "off" ?
Good spot: ta v much. My ancient tub is running out.
Got some months ago, still using it, good stuff.