Oops. My mistake…I misread the post.
Quarts of xylene (xylol) and toluene (toluol) can be found at most paint places and small hardware stores. Here’s a quart of toluene at ACE:
https://www.aceisyourplace.com/products/toluol-quart-ace|1005842.html
You might experiment with acetone…but it’s a different animal than xylene or toluene.
bgreer…
As noted in my earlier post that you quoted, I implied that acetone will work. However,being that it is a ‘minor’ solvent, it will not work as fast,or as well as either toluene or xylene. Save the acetone for dissolving Plexiglass for stabilization of soft and ‘punky’ wood before turning reel seat inserts from it.
The “Three Sisters” of aromatic organic compounds, and the simplest chemically, and in order of the most “hazardous” to the least, are: 1) Benzene; 1) Toluene; and, 3) Xylene. Benzene is the most reactive, the most flammable, and the most likely to cause harmful effects if one is over exposed to it. Next in line is Toluene, and last, but still a potentially hazardous substance, is Xylene. The greatest danger from all is their flammability. Treat them is if they are gasoline, and you should be fine.
OUCH!!! I can get a gallon for about $14.00!
Yeah, but ya’ll grow it down there.
Is Charlie’s hamburgers still in business?
I bought a quart of Toulene at WalMart. Laquer Thinner works pretty well as an alternative. Make sure you mix in well vented area and use a glass bottle with a tight cover for the mixture. Oh, put some petroleum jelly on the inside thread of the lid.
Allan
Wow! I wish someone would have mentioned a glass bottle. I mixed some last night and put it in a plastic container. This morning I found that it melted the bottom out. By the way, from the time I poured it from the can into a little plastic container the fumes were making me nauseous. That stuff must be powerful. Is it okay to keep the closed can in my apartment? I have a hobby room made out of the extra bedroom.
Most of us tend to underestimate the power of fumes from solvents. A old friend told me a story where a new house was being built during cool weather. The cabinet guy applied contact cement to the counter surfaces and the laminate to be installed late one afternoon and left it to dry. The first carpenter the next morning came in and started a fire in the fireplace. The next morning they started building the house again.
Uncle Jesse…
How about an approximate area in the Metropolitan Houston area for where Charlie’s was(is?)? Was it also a B-B-Q place? All of this wil be of great help in answering your question. We do not have a Charlie’s here in Katy.
'tis a shame the poor carpenter did not read my note on the flammability of such things before entering that house! Funny, though costly, story. Did the resultant explosion singe his eyebrows?
Bruce…
If you treat the stuff just like it was gasoline, you should have no storage problems. Anything less is risky. If the fumes bothered you that much, you might want to work with the opened container outside, rather than inside. Sorry about the mess!
Frank
Use Ronson, or Zippo lighter fluid. It is naptha, and will work just fine. I make head cement from lighter fluid and Vyna Bond (it is cheap vinyl repair stuff, available at Walmart and Home Depot).
Charlie’s was a little SE of the intersection of I-10 and Highway 6 in Katy several years ago. A homey place with old barn board and a sign that said “Charlie’s Hamburger, over 2 dozen served.” They made a pretty good burger. It’s been a while since I worked that area on a regular basis. I was responsible for the Crowne Plaza, now the Wyndham, for safety, security, fire prevention, etc., for several years.
Uncle Jesse…
That area is a part of Houston now. Katy is just down the road to the west. Where all of the old, now shut down, rice driers are located.
As I am not in that part of the ‘megaplex’ very often, I do not know about it’s current status. But I doubt that it is still there. I do not know how long you have been away from the area, but I-10, a two lane-er each way, I bet, when you were here, is now a 6-lane-er each way!! All of the rice/soybean fields around Katy, that used to provide such outstanding waterfowl hunting, are now planted in St. Augustine grass! Westheimer Road (FM1463) probably was still a two-lane blacktopped road west of the Hillcroft intersection when you were here, is now a 6-lane thoroughfare.
Time does change things, and not always for the good, IMHO!
Cheers!
Frank
I do, however, remember the sign for it’s “…over 2 dozen served”.
I forget how long ago it was since I was working for Holiday Inn, I left in '94. That was the outer edge of the metroplex back then. In 2000 I went to work with Starwood Hotels and most of my hotels were near I-610 The last time I was in Houston was Feb. 2009 around the convention center, there were some folks who wanted to give me an award. That happens so infrequently I want to come get it.