[SEL] It works? Ban it! - Attention Brent

[brent.tamatea]

I have found in a rural area these chemicals are available for cleaning
dairy plant for farms so reasonably easy to buy concentrated sodium
hydroxide and sodium hypochloride strong alkalie cleaners those products you
mentioned have been the basic ingredients for most cleaners for years so i
dont understand why the reaction to people buying them.I wouldnt mind trying
to make some though just for the sake of it.Sodium hydroxide is good for an
electrolytic bath as it degreases the parts and removes paint at the same
time as the rust is removed. The other place i have been able to buy
degreasers is commercial cleaning companys that supply the local business ie
hotels and motels etc..I have bought ammonia at the supermarket for cleaning
withouit any problems.Again these days many of these products are being
replaced by user friendly products unfortunately most are not so good. 
brent      

-----Original Message-----
From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
[mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com] On Behalf Of
johnculp at chartertn.net
Sent: Sunday, 24 June 2007 12:17 p.m.
To: The SEL email discussion list
Subject: Re: [SEL] It works? Ban it! - Attention Brent

---- Elden DuRand <edurand at mchsi.com> wrote: 
> John:
> 
> I bought a couple of cans of Red Devil Lye just a couple of years ago.
Found it in the drain cleaning section at one store and the detergent/soap
section at another.
> 
> You COULD do it the old fashioned way and simply slowly pour water over
wood ashes.  What results is what they used to make soap in the "good old
days".
> 
> "sodium hydroxide" (lye) should be commonly available at chemical supply
houses.

Yeah. What came out of the wood ashes in a pot is potash, aptly named.
Highly variable in composition, it made soap of highly variable quality, and
of soft and gooey texture. "The old soft soap." 

Chemical supply houses tend to be suspicious of new buyers these days.
Buying lye in quantity tends to put one on watch lists for meth makers. I
think pressure from law enforcement agencies against groceries carrying Red
Devil Lye pushed it out of business. I've found it impossible to buy
concentrated ammonia locally for some time on account of the same reason. 

Several years ago I ran across a law enforcement document online, not
intended to be public, explaining the technique to be used of going to store
managers, flashing the badge, and explaining that customers looking for
these substances were likely to be manufacturing illegal drugs. If they were
not known to the manager, he should act as though he did not have the stuff,
get as good a description of the attempted buyer and his vehicle as
possible, and call the cops. That happened to me when I went to a janitorial
supply house looking for strong ammonia! Store manager must've just been
visited by the cops. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Looked me up and
down trying to memorize my description as he stammered that they didn't have
any and didn't know where I could get any, then peeked out the blinds to try
to see my car and license plate. Must've thought I was a big meth kingpin
for sure. Wal-Mart set off an alarm when Jane unknowingly bought more cold
medicine with pseu!
 dephedrine than they unofficially allowed, before there were any legal
restrictions, and there were no notices posted. They did the same with paint
thinner and denatured alcohol. 

The whole idea of prior restraint, restricting honest citizens' access to
legal things with normal legitimate uses because they COULD be misused, is
wrong IMO. Same idea as gun control, no difference. I'm tired of hearing "If
it saves just one child, it's worth it!" Meanwhile, I can't blame the
chemical dealers for being scared. A dealer in Chattanooga got a 15 year
prison sentence last year. Said he should've known anybody buying a bunch of
elemental iodine was probably making meth. Bull! I can't buy the idea that a
chemical dealer is a mindreader who knows what somebody's going to do with
the stuff he sells, or that iodine automatically means somebody's making
meth. I well recall acquiring several pounds of it myself in my younger
days. Most of it went up in pretty purple smoke bombs, actually. But that
poor guy's sitting in federal prison, his life ruined. This is just another
small example of how the war on drugs is ruining our society. Not drugs
themselves; the war on d!
 rugs. That's what's made the drug problem. The more we fight it, the worse
we make it.

_______________________________________________
SEL mailing list
SEL at lists.stationary-engine.com
http://www.stationary-engine.com/mailman/listinfo/sel


-- 
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.9.6/863 - Release Date: 23/06/2007
11:08 a.m.