Security Check For Common Chemical And Natural Compounds

[mareo1912]

Hey guys,

a recent post about urushi laquer and it's toxic side effects brought me to this post that shall give you important information about common health risks at nihonto related works and will be continously edited by Brian and me. Right away, I will not have mentioned everything at a time, so please post comments, ask questions so that I can work and extend this list. Also, please do not understand me as Upper pedantic in anyway, I just want to give a wide range of informations and I know that a lot of things seem trivial to many of you, btw. it's kind of the introduction pharmacy freshlings get .

To my person, I'm a pharmacist that of course has a lot to do with toxicology, pharmacology, casual lab work and risk management. Therefore I will try to give the points with the best of conscience and knowledge but please do not rely only on this list, I won't guarantee for anything. So let's start with some basic stuff.

Rule 1: You know what it is, but not what it does? MSDS-> Material Safety Data Sheet: A sheet with easy and clear description about risks and prevention of those.
e.g. you have ferric chloride, just google "ferric chloride msds" and you will find information about risks and countermeasures.

Rule 2: Never eat, chew gum, suck candy or drink with harmful substances near, especially if you work with metals or other dust producing objects.
Very small dust particels will lay on your food or hands and get a higher resorption when getting into your body mixed with food. Just make
a small break and wash your hands with soap, then you're fine to eat.

Rule 3: Never panic! You do not work with any substance here that can harm you within seconds, lay down your work safely and go clean the
affected body part. Also, be careful with your eyes, skin can regrow, but an eye is very easy to damage and can not recover! Keep
protective glasses when needed (especially with liquids of all kinds).

Rule 4: Change potential gloves every 30 minutes at least! When working with acids or leach, every 15 minutes, Most times you will not notice that
the substances penetrated the gloves, they do not produce holes, they just diffund through( takes some time, change will prevent this).
When talking of gloves, I mean Nitrile gloves, not Latex. Latex cannot resist most chemical compounds.
Tricky for leach: You do not feel it, the moment an itching or pain starts is when your skin (maybe invisible under the to long kept glove) is
peeled off.

Rule 5: Always try to avoid breathing in fumes or dusts! That is never 100% possible, therefore, keep windows/door open so that the rooms air can not enrich with harmful particles.

For all the compounds, always take a look at the msds if existant for detailed information!

I hope I can help you, feel free to ask questions and please participate in extending the list,
Marco


Legend: !!! : This is really dangerous when used incorrectly or without the right precautions. Ask somebody experienced or prepare carefully on working with it. Also the visibility of the
danger is a decision point in giving this symbol!



Alcohol --- See Ethanol

Aluminium-(foil) --- Keep away from leach and acids, can give near explosive reactions! Be careful with aluminiumsalts, neurotoxicity!

Ammonia --- Stinks, strongly basic and corrosive, do not breath deep in when exposed to that stuff. Keep a good airflow. Wear gloves and wear
good eye protection!!!

Ammoniumnitrate !!! --- Hygroscopic (draws water), do not bring in contact with burnable stuff like petrol, it can result in an highly explosive mixture. Otherwise Ok

Choji Oil --- This is especially choji oil, a mix of mineral oil with Syzigium aromaticum (hell yeah I knew that name still by heart ^^) extract. Harmless, do not drink it and
you're fine. Smells strong, so do not spill it on something because it's hard to remove from textils.

Copper --- Do not breathe in (e.g. when sawing), do not bring in contact with strong acids - exothermic reaction - with a lot of heat!

Coppersulfate --- Nice blue color, so keep away from stuff that shall not get blue... Acidic character, wear gloves and eye prot. Otherwise Ok

Ethanol --- Can Burn with just a spark, not for drinking, tastes awful, maybe toxic remains. Keep airflow. Otherwise no problems

Excrements --- Yes, part of many antique recipes as Nitrate donator. When heated and further worked on, nitre could be produced from natural uric acids and digestive
products. Just use some nitrates as Ammoniumnitrate to avoid health risks.

Ferric compounds --- See Iron

Gold --- Do not inhale dust, but otherwise harmless.

Grinding Stones --- Generally not a problem, but they can produce dust that can harm the lung, therefore always keep them watered!

Hydrochloric acid --- Eye protection is indiscussible here. Gloves above 3% HCl conc. or when working unclean highly recommended. Highly
corrosive, do not bring in contact with metals, use glass or plastic tools. Aluminium is highly reactive with it, keep them away
from each other!! Keep airflow, do not breathe in, when diluting, set water first, then add acid slowly.

Iron --- Do not inhale dust, but otherwise harmless.

Iron (II/III) chloride --- Pretty strong acid, full glove/glasses protection recommended. Do not inhale dusts, keep away from metals, e.g. copper: it can get dissolved by Iron chloride
Always buy the "hexahydrate" as it is not a liquid like pure Ironchloride and therefore a lot safer to handle.

Iron (II/III) oxide --- Strong red colour, hard to remove (from white carpets especially...). Do not breath in. When in liquid, use eye protection.

Iron (II/III) sulfate --- Pretty acidic when reaching into your body. Wear protection, especially skin protection as it can also be taken up through your skin (rather slowly). Getting a
decent amount (like 10 sqcm) on your skin an leaving it there for 1 or two minutes can already cause intestinal health issues.

Ivory --- Not harmful normally, but keep away from the dust as it can chronically damage your lung.

Lead metal --- Lead in metal form is not that much of a problem. Do not breathe in dust and do not get often in touch with it. Also do not drink from, bath in, etc. lead objects,
as small amounts of metal lead will get dissolved as salts and can then be absorbed in your body and harmfully enrich there.

Lead compounds !!! --- They are pretty harmful as they destroy organs, brain cells and make impotent very fast. Even worse, many of them can be absorbed into your body just by skin
contact. Avoid lead compounds generally, there are lot of alternatives today. If theres no other way (rare), wear gloves, sleeves, eye protection and clean your
hands/arms good afterwards.

Mercury !!! --- No, no, no. Just do not use it. There are different salts of it, but these should be only used by professionals as many of them can dissolve through the skin.
There is always an alternative to mercury!

Nitre !!! --- Just as Ammoniumnitrate, slightly more reactive. To be correct: mixture of multiple nitrates, such as Potassium nitrate, Amm.nitrate, Sodiumnitrate, etc.

Oil !!! --- This is for oil except "Choji oil". There are lot of special oils, like gun oils etc, on the market. I looked at the ingredients of just few and holy ***. For the example
of "Eezox": This stuff contains Trichloroethylene (also others contain this), a very harmful chemical compound that is stated as "particularly worrisome".
This is easy to explain. Inhaled in even very low concentrations (it has narkotic effects which is always a sign of lung and brain interaction) it can irreversibly
damage the liver (just from inhaling it (not right away, but if not used very rarely...)). And does not only higher the risk of cancer (bladder and kidney cancer) it is
definately an active compound that can cause cancer!!! For an example, even in our labs were we have substances that kill you within 1 day after they touched
your skin, this s*** would be upper Level 2 risk in a 3 level scaling and to hand with thick special rubber gloves and und protective air supply. This is not against
Eezox, maybe they have other products without such stuff so you can buy them, but please guys, do not use this and take some alternatives without
tricholorethylene.

Potassium Hydroxide --- Nearly same as Ammonia, stronger corrosive activity, more harmful to the skin. Eye protection and gloves are important!

Silver --- Do not inhale dust, but otherwise harmless

Sodium carbonate --- Slightly basic, not a problem. Keep away from acidic solutions as it will foam by CO2 production

Sodium hydroxide --- Same as Potassium Hydroxide

Sulfuric acid !!! --- Eye protection is indiscussible here. Gloves above 3% H2SO4 conc. or when working unclean highly recommended. Highly
corrosive, do not bring in contact with metals, use glass or plastic tools. Keep airflow, do not breathe in, when diluting, set water
first, then add acid slowly. Can set free huge amounts of heat when reacting (e.g. with metals) -> can result in "explosion-like" evaporation

Uchiko --- Finely ground Hazuya & jizuya stones. Do not inhale dust as the lung can hardly exhale it again. May cause chronic lung diseases when often and careless
used. Comparable to asbestos

Urine --- See excrements

Urushi !!! --- Kind of devils blood. No problem when dry, but has a component with extreme allergic potential: Urushiol 3 is the most important and
inactivates the bodys prostaglandine synthesis, causing huge local inflammatory processes. My plan: Long sleeves, careful and precise
work. Eye protection and two nitril gloves on each hand! Change outer pair every 15 min. Keep good airflow, avoid breathing in the
fumes. If you can get somebody else to work with it and even for some more money, do it. Jokes aside, if you work clean and be
careful, have gloves, you should be fine

[BIG]

Thanks Marco

 

Best

[nagamaki - Franco]

For emphasis, breathing in a number of these toxins make them far worse, do not throw caution to the wind.

 

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

MSDS = Material Safety Data Sheet; the MSDS is usually available for compounds via the Web. It's a very good idea to download & READ the sheet before working with a new compound.

 

Ammonium nitrate = when mixed with fuel oil or similar petroleum products, can produce a very large bang with a minimal additional explosive charge (fireworks, etc.)

 

Excrements - the crystallized byproduct is potassium nitrate, originally scraped up & used to make black powder

 

Nitre = potassium nitrate

 

Potassium/Sodium hydroxide = in any concentration, turns your skin to SOAP!

 

Uchiko = finely-ground hazuya & jizuya > not related to sodium carbonate; inhalation related to asbestots, can give you long-term lung problems (silicosis/mesothelioma/etc.)

 

Thanks for getting this started, Marco.

[John A Stuart]

Just one correction. Both gold and silver and their salts are toxic. John

[Brian]

Please add the hazards of Ferric Chloride for those uninformed people who try to etch hamon.

Also, although not a chemical...working on ivory produces ivory dust, which has the same effect as asbestos...do NOT breath it in.
 

[vajo]

Please took some preservation oil to the list. 

[mareo1912]

Rewrote first version with your aspects. There's always a lot more to say, but I hope that this list emphasizes the peoply to inform themselves more than just reading this and taking it for gold.

 

To gold and silver: Both are not toxic in metal form as they can nearly not be absorbed in the body. Even most of their salts are non- or only toxic at low level and also rare in use.

[mareo1912]

Made a look up on different sword oils... horrific information uncovered for me...

[Dave R]

Made a look up on different sword oils... horrific information uncovered for me...

 

 Which is why I use a pure camellia oil for my swords.

[Ken-Hawaii]

 

Made a look up on different sword oils... horrific information uncovered for me...

That's interesting, Marco, especially as standard choji oil is simply mineral oil with a few drops of clove oil extract....

 

I'm wondering what you've found that you consider horrific?

[mareo1912]

Nothing to say against Choji, but the gun oil etc. That some guys use contains chloroethylene, so I added these oils to the List.

[vajo]

That's interesting, Marco, especially as standard choji oil is simply mineral oil with a few drops of clove oil extract....

 

I'm wondering what you've found that you consider horrific?

 

Ken there a different kinds of quality of choji. Choji in its origin is "Lebensmittelecht" (i didn't know the correct english word). 

 

Highly refined "Kurobara" (black rose) brand Camellia oil, has been produced from the same recipe for more than 80 years in Japan. 

Traditionally it is used to protect hand saw blades, swords, knives, plane irons, chisels and many other metal objects from corrosion. 

It can also be used as sewing machine oil! Kurobara Camellia oil is acid free and pure. It has a neutral taste, is odorless, doesn't dry and is not poisonous, so it is highly recommended for protecting kitchen knives. 

[mareo1912]

Ken there a different kinds of quality of choji. Choji in its origin is "Lebensmittelecht" (i didn't know the correct english word). 

 

Highly refined "Kurobara" (black rose) brand Camellia oil, has been produced from the same recipe for more than 80 years in Japan. 

Traditionally it is used to protect hand saw blades, swords, knives, plane irons, chisels and many other metal objects from corrosion. 

It can also be used as sewing machine oil! Kurobara Camellia oil is acid free and pure. It has a neutral taste, is odorless, doesn't dry and is not poisonous, so it is highly recommended for protecting kitchen knives. 

 

The word you search for is "product of food quality" there is no "one-word term" in english 

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

 Brian, this thread should be a sticky...

[Brian]

Carlo, the aim is to wait for all the input and additions to come in, then edit it and compile into an article for the articles section.
Maybe if Marco agrees, and we can edit it nicely, it can be used as a JSSUS article too?

[mareo1912]

Both would be a pleasure to me, have a lot to work at the moment so I will try to continue the list on the weekends as good as possible.