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Post by holajonathan on Sept 6, 2021 14:57:34 GMT -5
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 6, 2021 15:16:03 GMT -5
I'm glad to see they all seemed to have received "kitty approval"!  I love them! I think you did a great job on the old-school "no-girdle"! Interesting what you said about Brazilian Agates...the other day I cut two halves I got from somewhere, and yesterday cut out several preforms...so they're going to be waiting in the wings to get done.  |
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Post by holajonathan on Sept 6, 2021 15:25:16 GMT -5
And if you're wondering why my hands are so sparkling clean (they usually look like a mechanic's hands), I found this great degreaser for cleaning slabs after cutting.
Last night I mixed up a bucket of it and went to work scrubbing a bunch of slabs. The bottle said "biodegradable," which to me sounded like non-toxic, i.e., gloves optional. After a while my hands got white, puffy, and felt very slippery. That is when I decided to read the bottle... Guess what is biodegradable? Sodium hydroxide (lye). And it removes oil really well by turning it into soap. My hands felt slipper because the lye had turned oils on my skin into soap.
Lye is pretty nasty stuff to get on your skin, and I had my hands in it for about 20 minutes. Next time I'll read the bottle first. But my hands are pink like baby skin and haven't been this clean in years.
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Post by jasoninsd on Sept 6, 2021 16:22:15 GMT -5
And if you're wondering why my hands are so sparkling clean (they usually look like a mechanic's hands), I found this great degreaser for cleaning slabs after cutting. Last night I mixed up a bucket of it and went to work scrubbing a bunch of slabs. The bottle said "biodegradable," which to me sounded like non-toxic, i.e., gloves optional. After a while my hands got white, puffy, and felt very slippery. That is when I decided to read the bottle... Guess what is biodegradable? Sodium hydroxide (lye). And it removes oil really well by turning it into soap. My hands felt slipper because the lye had turned oils on my skin into soap. Lye is pretty nasty stuff to get on your skin, and I had my hands in it for about 20 minutes. Next time I'll read the bottle first. But my hands are pink like baby skin and haven't been this clean in years. I'm laughing...I probably shouldn't be...but I am! I hope it didn't do any serious damage, I'd feel badly for you...and guilty for laughing. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 6, 2021 17:12:21 GMT -5
You can still buy lye soap, although I'm pretty sure you're not suppose to be soaking in a degreaser. 
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Post by holajonathan on Sept 6, 2021 20:34:41 GMT -5
You can still buy lye soap, although I'm pretty sure you're not suppose to be soaking in a degreaser.
About a tablespoon of lye mixed with a few drops of water is what I use to keep hair / oil / gunk from accumulating in the pipes under my bathroom sinks and bath tubs. I make a paste with it a little thinner than toothpaste (with cold water), remove the little cap on the drains, and dump the lye paste in. After about a half hour, I dump a kettle of boiling water down the drain. It makes some wild hissing noises, and foul smelling steam comes out for a second or two. It seems to work very well for keeping drains clean, although the pure crystal form is lye is extremely caustic and will burn skin much quicker than the heavily diluted degreaser that I carelessly soaked my hands in. |
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Post by holajonathan on Sept 6, 2021 20:37:11 GMT -5
And if you're wondering why my hands are so sparkling clean (they usually look like a mechanic's hands), I found this great degreaser for cleaning slabs after cutting. Last night I mixed up a bucket of it and went to work scrubbing a bunch of slabs. The bottle said "biodegradable," which to me sounded like non-toxic, i.e., gloves optional. After a while my hands got white, puffy, and felt very slippery. That is when I decided to read the bottle... Guess what is biodegradable? Sodium hydroxide (lye). And it removes oil really well by turning it into soap. My hands felt slipper because the lye had turned oils on my skin into soap. Lye is pretty nasty stuff to get on your skin, and I had my hands in it for about 20 minutes. Next time I'll read the bottle first. But my hands are pink like baby skin and haven't been this clean in years. I'm laughing...I probably shouldn't be...but I am! I hope it didn't do any serious damage, I'd feel badly for you...and guilty for laughing. It's all good. I finally figured out a way to get my hands clean. No permanent harm, not yet at least. Although my skin still feels a little weird 24 hours later. |
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Post by holajonathan on Sept 6, 2021 20:40:16 GMT -5
Here is the offending product:   I noticed where it said Biodegradable Detergents, but I missed just below that where it says "may cause burns to eyes and skin." |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 6, 2021 21:06:06 GMT -5
No lye in this house. We're on a septic system. I'm pretty sure all the good bacteria would be wiped out if we put that down our drains.
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Post by holajonathan on Sept 6, 2021 21:18:45 GMT -5
No lye in this house. We're on a septic system. I'm pretty sure all the good bacteria would be wiped out if we put that down our drains. We have septic too. My theory is that there is enough fat / oil / grease in the drain pipes to convert the little bit of lye that I put down the drains into soap before it hits the septic tank. With just two of us living in my house, and a 2000 gallon septic tank, we only pump it every 5 or 6 years, and could probably go a lot longer. If the lye is screwing up the system, I haven't noticed yet. I probably only do this once a year, by the way. More often might cause problems. We use bleach on occasion in the washing machine as well, and I don't think that has screwed up the septic system. Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is similar to lye (sodium hydroxide). Bleach will also react with fats creating something like soap. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 6, 2021 21:40:58 GMT -5
No lye in this house. We're on a septic system. I'm pretty sure all the good bacteria would be wiped out if we put that down our drains. We have septic too. My theory is that there is enough fat / oil / grease in the drain pipes to convert the little bit of lye that I put down the drains into soap before it hits the septic tank. With just two of us living in my house, and a 2000 gallon septic tank, we only pump it every 5 or 6 years, and could probably go a lot longer. If the lye is screwing up the system, I haven't noticed yet. I probably only do this once a year, by the way. More often might cause problems. We use bleach on occasion in the washing machine as well, and I don't think that has screwed up the septic system. Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is similar to lye (sodium hydroxide). Bleach will also react with fats creating something like soap. I'm too big of a ninny to do that.
We do put active yeast down the cleanouts once a month on the advice of our plumber. Keeps the good bacteria population up.
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adrian65
Cave Dweller 
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on Sept 6, 2021 22:07:40 GMT -5
Those brecciated bubbles in the Imperial are gorgeous! Stunning cabs!
Adrian
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lunker
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2021
Posts: 430
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Post by lunker on Sept 6, 2021 22:39:10 GMT -5
Very cool cabs and kitty. That super clean is awesome stuff but yeah PPE is a good choice. Be careful around finished or painted surfaces with it too.
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lunker
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2021
Posts: 430
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Post by lunker on Sept 6, 2021 22:42:41 GMT -5
 Here's my guy Tuffy. |
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Post by stephan on Sept 6, 2021 23:03:41 GMT -5
You can still buy lye soap, although I'm pretty sure you're not suppose to be soaking in a degreaser.
There’s one use missing: remove pesky skin.  |
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Post by stephan on Sept 6, 2021 23:11:11 GMT -5
No lye in this house. We're on a septic system. I'm pretty sure all the good bacteria would be wiped out if we put that down our drains. We have septic too. My theory is that there is enough fat / oil / grease in the drain pipes to convert the little bit of lye that I put down the drains into soap before it hits the septic tank. With just two of us living in my house, and a 2000 gallon septic tank, we only pump it every 5 or 6 years, and could probably go a lot longer. If the lye is screwing up the system, I haven't noticed yet. I probably only do this once a year, by the way. More often might cause problems. We use bleach on occasion in the washing machine as well, and I don't think that has screwed up the septic system. Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is similar to lye (sodium hydroxide). Bleach will also react with fats creating something like soap. Bleach is rough, because of the chlorine. Caustic is a common cleaner, and you’re right about it becoming less caustic as it reacts with organic matter. We do some lab cleaning with NaOH, because, unlike soap, it doesn’t leave a residue that can interfere with assays. As it reacts with organic matter, it typically drops 2-3 pH points (that’s a 100-1000x reduction in alkalinity), making it legal to put down the drain. |
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Post by stephan on Sept 6, 2021 23:12:32 GMT -5
We have septic too. My theory is that there is enough fat / oil / grease in the drain pipes to convert the little bit of lye that I put down the drains into soap before it hits the septic tank. With just two of us living in my house, and a 2000 gallon septic tank, we only pump it every 5 or 6 years, and could probably go a lot longer. If the lye is screwing up the system, I haven't noticed yet. I probably only do this once a year, by the way. More often might cause problems. We use bleach on occasion in the washing machine as well, and I don't think that has screwed up the septic system. Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is similar to lye (sodium hydroxide). Bleach will also react with fats creating something like soap. I'm too big of a ninny to do that.
We do put active yeast down the cleanouts once a month on the advice of our plumber. Keeps the good bacteria population up.
We’re not on a septic system, but we still prefer to use biological methods (mixes of microbes) to break up clogs (at least the first few tries). Even if we’re not on septic, the sewage plants still use good bacteria we’d prefer not to kill. |
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Post by stephan on Sept 6, 2021 23:15:18 GMT -5
A few recent ones:  Goofy shape on the RIJ but it was a small rock, and I didn't see any sense in making it even smaller. I went with a no-girdle old-school dome to show off the orbs that wrap around the sides. Notice how the colors are more accurate with cat paws in the photo. Having something pure white helps the camera calibrate white balance. This is the second useful thing my cat knows how to do.     I don't know why more people don't cab Brazilian agates. They are cheap, hard, take a great polish, and have relatively few fractures. Slice up small nodules for ready-to-cab preforms, as was the case here.    Hope you like 'em. Thanks for looking. I’ll have to remember to use cat paws to white balance. I often use grass. For some reason, it is also photographically neutral (that comes from a pro photographer — I was pretty surprised to hear that). Great cabs. Love the Botswana. The RIJ is actually quite close to being a tongue shape, which is one of my faves. As for Brazilians, I honk more people don’t cab them for a few reasons: 1. They’re so bloody hard 2. They’re brown (a lot of people seem to dislike brown rocks) 3. They have a bad rep, since they’re often dyed |
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Post by stephan on Sept 6, 2021 23:29:30 GMT -5
Here's my guy Tuffy. Love that paws-crossed, chillin’ pose. |
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Post by stephan on Sept 6, 2021 23:31:58 GMT -5
Here is the offending product: I noticed where it said Biodegradable Detergents, but I missed just below that where it says "may cause burns to eyes and skin." Technically, lye is a chaotropic salt, not a detergent, so, while they may be guilty of green-washing, they did not lie (pun intended). |
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