CA

[Greg Rodney]

This is not meant to scare people, but be aware of proper ventilation when using CA.
Back at the beginning of the year I had released the Hyper Viper Quik kit, and it was a resounding success. I shipped all over the U.S. and 7 other countries. I was building on average 5 kits a day for a number of weeks. I thank everyone for their orders.

I came down with what I thought was a nasty chest cold...the Doc thought it was the beginnings of pneumonia...put me on antibiotics and steroids. I kept on building kits...started to feel little better but when I was done taking the steroids, It came back with a vengeance! Off to the ER. Chest X-ray showed my lungs were totally inflamed...more antibiotics and stronger steroids... I kept on building kits. 4 days later I had what's called an exacerbation. I was taking a shower, and the combination of the high humidity and inflamed lungs caused me to go into panic breathing, and I blacked out. It's a real scare to, come to, with an oxygen mask on your face and paramedics working on you to normalize your breathing!!! My respiration was 51, oxygen level was 83%! They told me I came close to "buying the farm" I saw a lung specialist the next day, and was told my lung capacity was down to 53% and full recovery was iffy at best. I AM slowly feeling a little better every day, but I would be hard pressed to walk the 60 feet out to the handle and back without having to sit down and rest.

According to my lung doctor, about 5% of the population will have an adverse reaction to CA exposure. Granted I do have lung damage from a near fatal bout of pneumonia back in 1991, I'm a smoker, and I had used 10 ounces of CA in 8 weeks! I CA my polyester hinges, and that's a lot of surface area for the fumes to off-gas from! I had everything going for me!
All I'm trying to accomplish with this post is to make everyone aware that if you can smell it, you ARE getting some of it in your lungs. Just using a small fan drawing the fumes away from your work area would keep you from inhaling CA fumes.

I know there are people still waiting for kits. All I can say for right now is, I'm an ornery old buzzard and I WILL beat this and get back into the shop. I just don't know when.

Greg Rodney

[Tim Wescott]

I'm one of those 5%.  I use regular CA very sparingly, and substitutes wherever I can.  If I use it too heavily, I get that "cold" -- I suspect that if I used it as heavily as you've been, I'd be making the acquaintance of some emergency room nurses, too.

"Odorless" CA seems to work well for me.  I'd use it exclusively, except that I have a bunch of regular CA that I'm working through, obtained through club give-aways.  I should probably just s***can it and buy odorless.

All the best.  I hope for the best recovery possible -- you have my permission to surprise the lung doc with a complete recovery!

[Howard Rush]

Give it to me.  If I can't get TUTs there's not much to live for.