Disposal of used CA and finish materials

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Eyeshooter

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2010
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52
Location
Western NH
The other night I went downstairs and smelled a very strong odor of CA in the basement. It was so strong that my wife smelled it in the kitchen. I had been throwing used paper towels and cloths used for CA/BLO finishing in a trash can and that afternoon had emptied it into a cardboard box to take to the trash. I thought I just needed to finally take it out. Instead, I found the material was hot and it seemed to be smoking!. I quickly took it outside and threw snow on it and eventually poured water on the materials, as well. In hind site, I probably should have given it a shot with my shop fire extinguisher.

My question is, how do members dispose of their waste materials? There obviously is a safer way than what I've been doing.

John
 
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John
Do not through rags of BLO in the trash can. It will self combust. When BLO cures it generate heat. You should lay your rags out until the BLO has cured or soak them in water then lay them out. At no point they should be in your house. Just lay them outside until you can safely through them out. Do not know of any issues with CA.
 
John, BLO by itself poses a fire hazard with oil soaked rags or towels because of the oxidizers added to speed it's curing process. CA adds another hazard because it will also erupt spontaneously in contact with cotton. The driers in the BLO also react with the CA giving off heat. NEVER store oil contaminated rags. One solution is to keep a lidded plastic pail half full of water close to your work area and throw all rags and towels in it as you use them. As long as the refuse is kept water wet you will not have a problem. I urge you to beware as this is a serious fire hazard.
 
I agree, BLO, danish oil, formby's refinishers, and several other products are known to generate enough heat to self ignite. Dangerous stuff to keep around at all. The bucket full of water is the standard industrial method of short term disposal of fairly large amounts of materials that will be removed on a regular basis, but I find it messy and easily knocked over around my (admittedly chaotic) shop. I have gone to the simpler (for me) method of just walking over to the door with my finishing oil soaked strips of cotton cloth (old bed sheets) and draping them over a scrap of wood, then lighting them. 10 seconds, a gentle whoosh, and light bits of ash drift away, problem solved. Better a controlled burn than worrying about laying them out or trying to store them safely, IMHO.
 
I keep a bucket half filled with water near my lathe and throw all my flammable used cleaning materials in. I has a foot pedal lid so I don't have to bend to open it.
 
I bought a empty quart paint can and lid from Home Depot. All rags/papertowels go into it with the lid on tight. After a couple days when all curing is done, a quick dump in the trash dumpster and I am ready for more. The Gallon size cans may work better if you have a lot of rags. $3 for the quart size with the lid. I am sure Lowes has them as well.
 
Gentlemen:
Thank you for saving me and my family from myself. If I had not been home that night, it could have been a very unhappy Christmas. There is now a bucket of water for the idiot who works in my shop to put his rags. I knew this material was flammable but did not realize it would generate its own heat. Many thanks!

John
 
In school they always had us put the use rags in old paint cans and seal them when we were done with them. but that was also back when paint cans were still metal.
 
Most any container will do as long as it has a lid. You can't get combustion without air. A coffee can & lid will do for most anything. I have at times taken rags/paper towels outside & put a rock on them. Throw them away after a day or two. When doing a CA finish, I pitch the small piece of towel on the floor away from me--then pick them up after all finish is done. Never lay it on the work bench.
 
THANK YOU!

I am ashamed to admit that I have not given much thought to this topic until I read this and have probably just been lucky. I have seen but never paid much attention to the smoke coimng off the paper towel as I did my CA finish. There is now a bright orange Home Depot Homer Bucket filled 1/2 way with water next to my lathe which is where all of my used CA paper towels and finish stuff go. The mess is not nearly as bad as it could be after the entire shop burns down.

Thank you again for making me think!
Bob
 
Larry & James thank you both for your posts. You may have saved some home and people with your information. Not everyone knows the dangers of BLO. Another option is a small metal trash can with lid that fits tight. This will cut off the oxygen if it was to combust. I hope everyone reads this thread and takes an extra minute to assess how they do things.
 
I haven't done enough finishing at any one time to warrant the water bucket approach, but being aware of the combustion issue, I always leave my application rags/pads set out to dry thoroughly before tossing them in the trash.
 
ditto on the metal trash can, I have a 5 gal one, everything goes in there then out to the old bbq grill, poof
 
MobilMan said:
Most any container will do as long as it has a lid. You can't get combustion without air. A coffee can & lid will do for most anything. I have at times taken rags/paper towels outside & put a rock on them. Throw them away after a day or two. When doing a CA finish, I pitch the small piece of towel on the floor away from me--then pick them up after all finish is done. Never lay it on the work bench.
Click to expand...

Actually, BLO has driers in it that are self-oxidizing, so putting it in a closed container like a jar thinking of depriving it of air born oxygen might not help. Using a metal closed can would help, because the internal combustion than might occur would be better contained, but the heat and pressure change might not be contained in a glass jar. A coffee cans lid is plastic typically and therfore subject to be ignitable as well. The bunching up of the rag would concentrate that effect by decreasing the heat disipation area.
Spreading the rag out increases the heat disipation effect, which is what would minimize the chance of it self-igniting.
 
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This is one reason I never use BLO on my CA finishes. I use accelerator instead. I had used BLO before, but switched for the very reason you all have mentioned here. Besides BLO is a oily mess at times that I didn't need/want in my shop.
Best wishes
Clyde
 
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