Gasoline on hands

[jimwrench]

 My 1916 copy of Cyclopedia of Automobiles Gas and Oil engines and Farm Tractors gives some don'ts including putting gas on the rag instead of your hands. Wonder which way OSHA recommends ? Why would you have a unexpected result if you used a match to check an old carb woudn't you expect a fire ? I am negligent as I don't have a spare spark plug in either vehicle and when I ran out of gas once I don't remember being tempted to remove all the spark plugs.

[rusty]

Ha!

When my dad worked at an auto dealership as a mechanic years ago, my grandmother would wash his clothes in gasoline to get the grease and oil out. Imaging walking past the clothesline with a light cigarette.....

Oops...sorry honey....

> remove all the spark plugs

Odd tho it sounds, yes. Why? Because as you slowly run out of gas on an old car, it starts choking and missing and carbons up all the plugs...

So, you have to take them all out and clean them...

It is also good to tighten them all the way, so you don't fill the inside of grandpa's hood with dents..

[Nolatoolguy]

I work with a gentleman in a fab shop who washes his hands with gasoline at the end of the day, creature of habbit I guess.

[Dustin21]

never done it with gas but i use wd40 and brake cleaner sometimes when im in the field and dont have a sink available...

[Branson]

Can't remember how many times I've heard you should NEVER use gasoline to clean anything.  I can't even remember how many places I heard it.
Various classes in school said it. 

There was a white creamy stuff used in the oil fields (maybe Noel knows it) for cleaning off the crude oil at the end of the shifts that worked wonders without water.  They had tubs of it out on the leases.  Had some once, used it up, but didn't know where to get any more.

[mrchuck]

GOOP is the white creamy hand cleaner that does a wonderful job. I buy it at Walmart for around 3 dollars for a small tub.

[Wrenchmensch]

Years ago, my Dad, who sold specialty oils and chemicals to industry, advised me about washing dirty-grease covered hands.  I was a boy then, and absorbing new knowledge in large quantities. "Use bacon fat from the can in the ice box to clean your hands." he said.  I did so, the grease was dissolved by the bacon fat, and I could wipe the whole mess off using paper towels. Then I would wash my hands using soap and water.   The advantage of using this home-based product is safety and it is low cost. Hydrocarbon compounds, like gasoline and mineral spirits, are easily absorbed through the skin and lung tissue, and they are carcinogenic. Animal fats are byproducts of cooking, and are free.

[rusty]

Baby oil also works, as does corn oil, and you don't smell like breakfast for 3 hours afterwards ;P

If people knew what brake cleaner actualy does to the fat in your skin they wouldn't go anywhere near the stuff ....

The biggest thing is the mushroom colud effect tho, if you havn't seen just how big a bang a few oz of gasoline vapor can make, you don't really apprecuate how dangerous washing things in it is....

[Papaw]

The cleaner we used in the oilfields was made by ZEP, but I don't know the name of it. I have a gallon pump can of something from DOW Chemical Co that was liberated from the plant by SOMEONE!

One thing I have done and told my daughters to do was to have your hand liberally saturated with hand lotion before getty dirty, it is easier to clean up later.

I have used gasoline, varsol, diesel, and who knows what else for hand cleaning, seldom carb cleaner.

[Lewill2]

I have often use WD40 if I don't have anything else handy.

[john k]

Before I go to the shop wash sink to clean up, if I'm especially greasy, even with undercoat smears, I pour some fresh motor oil or atf in my hand, rub it  all in and wipe off with a cloth.  Works great and skin doens't feel like it going to peel off.   Black greasy dirt from an older vehicle, black gunk from the bottom of an oil pan, all loosens up with some fresh clean oil.  We have been advised at shop meetings, to get used motor oil, and gas and diesel off the skin immediately.  There are a whole bunch of acids in used oil, and a whole world of additives in fuel that weren't there the first 50 years.  Before tying into something really dirt, like Papaw said, rub in some hand lotion, it makes a barrier on the skin to keep out the dirty stuff, unless you really think those black creases on the fingers and the palms of the hands is a sign of your occupation.  Another thing, 3-M yellow adhesive, that wonderful sticky stuff that stays on the finger tips for days?  Before it gets dry, it will rub off with some ATF.  Gasoline voltatility, yeah, in the army I was taught that a gallon of gasoline, properly vaporized has the same energy as two one pound sticks of TNT.   

[amertrac]

years ago I visited another tractor shop and noticed a strong smell of gasoline in the room. i mentioned it and asked if one of the repairs was leaking gas , the answer caused me to exit very quickly/  OH NO THATS THE PARTS WASHER WE FILL IT EVERY MORNING
 PS I THINK THE BUILDING IS STILL THERE   bob w.

[J.A.F.E.]

When I was a kid I worked in a garage and the parts washing tub was filled with gas. The guy I worked for would wash parts with a Pall Mall red hung in his mouth. I was too young to smoke or likely I would have done it too.

[OilyRascal]

I know I've done it (washed my hands in gasoline) - but, in the case you are NOT aware - Gasoline now contains Benzene additives.  Benzene is a known human carcinogen.  I will no longer use it for a hand cleaner.

[Neals]

Best I've found is wipe hands. Rub on a gob of margarine and wipe off. Apply shot of dish soap and wash hands.