> it occurred to me with the occasional posts about cleaning old resin off
> of wood or removing adhesives that their's a lot of different solvents out
> there that people use. I would be curious what folks have in their garages
> and what they use for what. The use of denatured alcohol and lacquer
> thinner is a new one to me. Acetone gets used like duct tape,but like duct
> tape may not be the best all purpose solvent. So what do you folks use a
> lot? for hands,tools,wood,for removing tape residues?

As a long time DuPont lab tech I think I can weigh in here. When it comes to stripping - Acetone is your Huckleberry. (love that line-Val Kilmer Tombstone) Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) is more penetrating but that is BAD stuff.It's the basis for a lot of products in small amounts.Methanol and alcohols in general do not penetrate very much.I THINK lacquer thinner is MEK based. Some other solvents such as Toluene and Benzine (another bad boy) are a little oily and these probably are in paint removers because they are less volatile than acetone and actually mix in well with the paint to loosen it up.Something like that with a final acetone wash would be good.Sort of like rubbing lotion into your hands and then washing after it's sunk in.By the way, anytime you get solvents or adhesive on your hands, reach for the lotion - rub it in good and then wash.Lotion will loosen up and get under adhesive and also replace the oils that solvents strip out.I'm not in Lab work anymore but I have noticed that solvents are very restricted these days.As an aside, we used to make Toluene diisocyanide (TDI) over in the DuPont plant outside of Derry in N.Ireland.Real bad stuff. Some guys got sensitized and couldn't be in the same building.When you mix that stuff with a resin "masterbatch" it produced the foam cushion material we are so familiar with. DuPont marketed it under the HYLENE(tm) tradename. The "Great Stuff" you get at Home Depot is the same idea. It mixes inside the can and foams. It's a di-isocyanide but not Toluene. That's probably why they can retail it to the public.It would be interesting to unload a few cans into a seat mold. I had a can in the garage without a top. It finally got the better of me last week so I drove a nail into it and let it run onto a piece of plywood. I think one can would make a seat if you had a 2-part waxed mold. Dont ever get it on your hands. JJ.