Methylene chloride stripper banned for consumer use

This topic has been all over the local DC region news with the 'reporters' lobbying hard for the ban. As someone who worked in a chemistry lab for >40 years and used thousands of gallons of dichloromethane without ill effect to me or my technicians, and at least dozens more gallons of commercial strippers containing dichloromethane I feel I am being injured by the ban. DCM is a key solvent in chemistry (having highest dipole), for which there is no comparable 'safe' replacement, but is an easy target for the government paper pushers as relatively few people will even notice the ban. More people will die as the result of miss-use of gasoline this year than DCM has killed in the past 10, but a lot of people would notice if gasoline was banned. Rant closed.
 
So does that make the three gallons of stripper that has been languishing in my basement for ten years more valuable? o_O
 
Apparently my favorite stripper (Dad's) has methylene chloride. It works great! Can someone out there recommend a substitute?
 
So does that make the three gallons of stripper that has been languishing in my basement for ten years more valuable? o_O
YES! I just got back from a run to several local stores hoping I could stock up on the evil stuff that works and to my horror, it's all gone. In it's place are new "non"-methyl chloride versions. I waited too long to stock up.
 
I ordered some Dad's on-0line from Walmart a few months ago. Just ordered more from Ideal True Value Online for about $31/gal + shipping.
 
How many gallons to strip a 20' canoe. Local hardware store still has some of the good ole stuff available.
 
It is just varnish. It is not really peeling, but some of it is worn off. Lazy me is saying to just clean it, scuff it and apply new varnish. The other voice (yes I have two) is saying to strip it. Stripping it is going to be crazy laborious, especially because of all the half ribs.

On a different note. My local hardware store had heard nothing about this new law, has gallons of stripper available in different brands and said no problem getting more. Should I go load up now.
 
Your local hardware store may not be able to order more when it runs out -- so if you want some for the future, you might want to stack up now.

A little while back, was in Lowe's and noticed that the good stuff was no longer on the shelves in the paint section. But then I saw a couple of gallons of it in their clearance section, at a very low price. I grabbed a couple of cans, but when I went to check out, the computerized cash register put up a notice that the stuff could not be sold -- the cashier could not get around this and I had to leave it behind. I wonder what happened to that stuff.
 
Having "blessed" the use of methylene chloride, I feel I should comment further - - -

Methylene chloride, while very useful and in widespread use, is not benign stuff. Harmful exposure can occur through breathing and skin contact. Read the Wikipedia entry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichloromethane

If you use it (as I have and will continue to use till I run out), at a minimum, be sure to provide very good ventilation and keep it off your skin. Using a good respirator with an organic vapor canister is not overkill. Leaning into a canoe to scrape out this stuff after it has been soaking into loosening up old varnish for a half hour is a good way to get a substantial hit.

Information about the harmful nature of useful chemicals is much more available that it was when I was young. I paid for a good part of my college education doing production machining of aluminum castings -- we used trichloroethylene, and I regularly breathed its fumes and splashed it on my hands. I worked on my cars and motorcycle, and washed my hands with gasoline and thought gasoline smelled good (it did smell different, and better, than it does today). Our house was insulated with foam in the early 1960's -- formaldehyde? Over the years, I have occasionally stripped furniture (not opening the windows if it was winter), used various pesticides including 2, 4-D (a component of agent orange). and various other consumer chemicals. I worked a block and a half from the World Trade Center and and was exposed for months to the dust and fumes resulting from its destruction. I've worked with plywood and various wood-composite materials -- more formaldehyde? And I always have a variety of solvents in my shops and garage.

The motto of the time -- "Better Living through Chemistry" -- was intended to, and did, lessen and detune any sense of problems or dangers from chemical use and a chemical-laden environment. Warnings, if any, were in fine print and often not taken very seriously. Little attention was paid to the carcinogenic effects (known or suspected) or the neurologic impairments or other toxic properties (nausea, dizziness, fatigue, headaches) of all sorts of materials.

I am 74 years old. In the last few years I have had two cancerous growths removed from my skin; I have developed a bit of a balance problem (those who took my poling class at Assembly two years ago my recall that I fell out of my canoe a few times -- a sign that I could not ignore); I have lost some of my sense of smell; and I have a slightly diminished field of vision.

Now all of this may be simply age-related -- growing old is a bitch (though better than the alternative) -- but it is entirely likely that my fairly casual exposure to powerful chemicals over the years has contributed in some measure to these conditions.

Much more is known, and information is more readily available, about the negative aspects of our modern environment. The life expectancy of a male in the U.S. when I was born was 63.6 years, and I have gone well past that benchmark, in no small part due to the chemicals that I use and that surround me as I go about my daily activities.

BUT -- it would be foolish in the extreme not to pay attention to, and not take steps to minimize, the harmful effects that come with the benefits of modern chemicals. Today we all have information readily available to us -- look up the MSDS for the stuff you use and pay attention to the warning labels on stuff you use. Even though they sometimes seem excessive, they are not there for decoration or because a manufacturer likes to put negative information about a product on the container.
 
Greg,
Thanks for the insight. Chemicals, like drugs, have side effects, and affect some people more than others. Methylene chloride flat out strips paint and varnish, but can be dangerous. I have sent canoes and boats to a professional furniture stripper for years, but usually strip the seats myself. I just purchased 3 gallons of water wash MC stripper from Ace Hardware for future use. If you can find a furniture stripper to strip your canoe, bite the bullet and pay him/her to do it.
The stripper that I use is extremely good and charges $20/ ft for varnish removal. He has stripped well over 100 canoes.
 
You can still get it for "industrial use", so if you have a business name you should be able to get some.

Just got some from these guys, www.flostrip.com, 5 gallon and 55 gallon.

I use the 1826, it's like water for flow stripping systems. Works great with a brush too.

As mentioned in previous post you must wear protection of all kinds

A microscopic dot of this stuff will sting in seconds.
 
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