Sweet Potato Carving

[motleyjust]

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

Place the carving on a piece of screen just above the silica gel in a jar with a tight fitting lid.
Let it sit. When the gel changes color, replace it. Rejuvenate the hydrated gel in a very low oven, it will change color back to indicate "dry" .

You think as long as the piece doesn't come into contact with the silica gel, it will be OK for instruments?

I will, of course, be using a finish on them, so I guess that will be added protection.

I have read that if it is JUST silica gel with no added chemicals, it is safe.

[Claude]

Here's a Material Safety Data Sheet on silica gel:
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924905
Here's another for a different brand:
http://www.stopak.com/desiccants/MSDS-Silica%20Gel.pdf
In summary, it's not good for you. This is why the silica gel is in those little paper packets that come with cameras and stuff. The paper keeps it away from your skin, but allows moisture to get to the silica gel. As RV says, keep it separate and you should be ok.

BTW, I keep a couple of those paper packs of silica gel in my carving tool boxes - helps keep the gouges dry so they don't get rusty.

Claude

[motleyjust]

I think the gel in the packets is the pure gel, not with any additives. I've read that the indicator additives make it worse. I'm not sure if that changes the situation.

[motleyjust]

I am thinking of making some bags of fine tight woven fabric and putting the gel in.

[Robson Valley]

Silica gel is a manufactured facsimile of sand, porous enough to attract the inclusion of water molecules by hydrogen bonding. Go lie on the beach = you will get more "silica" up your beak than from anything you might use in your shop. There's no need to shake it up and snort the dust. Don't let some spook freak you out = some people have a compulsive urge to eat the stuff.
Additives, shmadditives. The whole deal is water (molecule) management. The water-sensitive dye makes life a whole lot easier to figure out when to change the gel. Every 4 days for us, weekends were irrelevant.

We expected top performance from more than $500,000 of equipment every day, a dust particle was the kiss of death, we washed the floors once a week with liquid Nitrogen (if that isn't a neat dust carrier, I don't know what is.) I could walk in at 8AM, the lab manager says "we have a dust down" and I'd turn around for a day of fly fishing.

Rust: my honing compound, like most, has a high-melting point fat in it, some sort of rendered lard (?surprised?) Ever so faintly, all my tools are just a little bit oily = no rust. If it's a concern, wipe the outside of your nose with a tissue and wipe your tools.

[motleyjust]

I found this at
What Happens If You Eat Silica Gel Beads?

Usually, nothing happens if you eat silica gel. In fact, you eat it all the time. Silica is added to improve flow in powdered foods. It occurs naturally in water, where it may help confer resistance against developing senility. Silica is just another name for silicon dioxide, the main component of sand.
Yet, if silica is harmless to eat, why do the packets carry the warning? The answer is that some silica contains toxic additives. For example, silica gel beads may contain toxic and potentially carcinogenic cobalt(II) chloride, which is added as a moisture indicator. You can recognize silica containing cobalt chloride because it will be colored blue (dry) or pink (hydrated). Another common moisture indicator is methyl violet, which is orange (dry) or green (hydrated). Methyl violet is a mutagen and mitotic poison. While you can expect most silica you encounter will be non-toxic, ingestion of a colored product warrants a call to Poison Control.

So, it sounds like I will be OK if I can find plain Silica gel.
What I have now has cobalt chloride because it is blue.

[Robson Valley]

Quite straight forward =

Do not eat it.
Do not serve it to guests.

Cobalt chloride in indicator quantities is no more a big deal than bird KaKa on the laundry on the line. Probably less.
A similar warning should be on every gallon/liter of gasoline you buy. A similar warning should be on your kitchen water taps ("Fatal if snorted in large quantities") But, we are supposed to be able to learn what to do and what not to do. Give yourself some credit!!! Some people can't.