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Author Topic: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus  (Read 2494 times)

Navneetgems

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Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« on: March 24, 2020, 09:52:14 PM »
Hello,

We as Navneet Gems are posting for the first time. This is a very difficult situation for many of us. We are in complete emergency in Thailand - with partial lockdown.

What are the preventive measures where this virus can survive for a lapidary to consider?
We know you guys have very good science behind you all.
Please advice is urgently how to clean, what precautions to take, whether to close down,

Navneet

RoughCreations

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2020, 01:43:15 PM »
One word - Disinfecting.
I have filled an old spray bottle with alcohol solution, using at least 70% alcohol by volume. I use methylated spirits (Australia) - it is typically 95% ethanol, so you need to do some basic calculations depending on the concentration of alcohol you start with to get >70% alcohol by volume (ABV). You can use rubbing alcohol as well if this is more available in your locality. Methylated spirits is hard to come by at the moment, having said that I managed to get some more at the hardware store today.
We use this at home to spray and sterilize hard surfaces such as door handles, bench tops, bathroom surfaces etc. where the CV19 could potentially sit. You can also add some moisturiser (glycerine/aloe vera etc) and essential oils to the alcohol solution and use it as a hand sanitiser as long as the overall ABV is still > 70%.
Using a disinfectant like this isn't an excuse for a business to stay open, all things considered, but an added precaution to help lower risk generally, around the home.
P.S. Watch out for naked flames... otherwise you will have a flame-thrower.
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Navneetgems

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2020, 03:16:05 PM »
Thank you very much for the advice! Simply and effective.
We have closed our factory for now but we will disinfect as you mentioned,
Regards
Navneet

MakkyBrown

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2020, 08:50:14 AM »
Hey roughcreations, Bunnings was sold out of metho but Mitre10 had heaps. I'm using 70% metho, 30% sorbolene cream($4 litre from Shiploads.) Takes a day or so and a bit of shaking to mix evenly but not bad on hands. Using it in 500ml spray bottles from Bunnings and empty eye glasses cleaner pump spray bottles.

MB

RoughCreations

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2020, 03:27:49 PM »
Hi Makky,
Thanks, we will be right for a fair while, I also use metho for my lapidary work - dissolving wax etc. and for my alcohol burner. I keep a good stash of homemade hand sanitiser in the car to use as soon as I get back in after the supermarket or pharmacy, as well as a pocket dispenser for on-the-run use. Reckon there won't be much running around after today though, lockdown must be pretty soon in Tas.
P.S. I cut a lovely big Easy Quad last week, its on Instagram. Great design.
RC
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swirly

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2020, 05:05:52 PM »
bad advice metho is bad news as it contains methanol which is poison and can be absorbed via the skin

Aussie Sapphire

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2020, 05:48:43 PM »
Metho is a great way to disinfect hard surfaces - cheap, easy to obtain and effective.


However, as Swirly points out, methanol is toxic and is absorbed through the skin so perhaps not a great idea to use as a base for hand sanitiser.


Probably better to use something like Isopropyl Alcohol for that kind of thing.


cheers
Leah

Aussie Sapphire - The Lapidary Warehouse

RoughCreations

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2020, 08:18:41 PM »
I agree, if you are not sure of your product, use Isopropyl alcohol instead for hand sanitiser for safety's sake.

FYI - Once upon a time methylated spirits in Australia used to contain some methanol, these days it is ethanol (95%), water, along with a bitter denaturing agent in it so that it can't easily be drunk, and excise is not payable to the Feds. The denaturing agent also makes it trickier for the industrious among us to distill off the ethanol content for other uses.
Diggers brand (very common in Aust), for example is: 95% ethanol, 4.9% water, .1% bittering/denaturing agents (Bitrex). The manufacturers of Diggers metho make it non-toxic (but rather unpleasant) for those that unwisely still choose to drink it...

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MakkyBrown

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2020, 10:49:57 PM »
Your correct, I read the datasheet as well I was worried about the additive that makes it taste horrible.

MakkyBrown

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2020, 11:04:21 PM »
I agree, if you are not sure of your product, use Isopropyl alcohol instead for hand sanitiser for safety's sake.

FYI - Once upon a time methylated spirits in Australia used to contain some methanol, these days it is ethanol (95%), water, along with a bitter denaturing agent in it so that it can't easily be drunk, and excise is not payable to the Feds. The denaturing agent also makes it trickier for the industrious among us to distill off the ethanol content for other uses.
Diggers brand (very common in Aust), for example is: 95% ethanol, 4.9% water, .1% bittering/denaturing agents (Bitrex). The manufacturers of Diggers metho make it non-toxic (but rather unpleasant) for those that unwisely still choose to drink it...
Cool, re Easy Quad. I'll have to have a look. What is you instagram name? I'm not very good at using it. I have a heap of pics/movies to upload.
Edit: Found it, it looks to have a bit of flash that helps it not be too dull and boring in the large smoky. I'd like to have a look sometime when the virus is sorted. Is the club open?
« Last Edit: March 27, 2020, 11:25:07 PM by MakkyBrown »

RoughCreations

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #10 on: March 28, 2020, 11:09:37 AM »
Makky, Instagram is very mobile-phone oriented, you have to use your phone to upload everything and create captions. If you do a bit of a hack and add a user-agent switching extension to your computer's browser, Instagram thinks you're a phone and allows you to do some operations from a PC.

As Easy Quad has a deep pavilion, if I had chosen a lighter shade of smoky the cut would have released even more sparkle. The large table means you can't hide any inclusions, my stone pictured below has a few here and there! The cut comes together so easily, the table takes a bit of polishing (especially in quartz) for large stones. It is a Money Cut of sorts, using the late Jeff Grahams terminology.


Stargazing from your book is one I would like to try next. It is a little bit eye-like, which is currently a theme I can't seem to shake.

Lapidary is all closed in Hobart. At first they stopped coming, then the doors were locked and the locks changed, now they are boarding up the windows (figuratively speaking). With such a large proportion of lapidary members being in the age-risk group for CV19, the air-raid siren was already blaring months ago.
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Dihusky

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Re: Lapidary precautions during Coronavirus
« Reply #11 on: March 28, 2020, 01:16:25 PM »
Getting back to the sanitizer part of this thread, if you can get Isopropyl of Isocol you can then create a mix for personal use:

If you have Aloe in the garden, grab and leaf, remove the gel and blend about 2 tablespoons with 20 drops TeaTree oil, 20 drops Eucalyptus oil, 15 drops lavender oil and add to 125ml alcohol. Great moisturising sanitizer that'll kill any bug instantly.

I have a bottle sitting on my desk at work, quick shake and a squirt and rub when I go out and return.

 

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