Breakthrough

[Robweja]

I dont know where this post might belong but as I am mostly following and doing Flat Plane I will post it here.
Here in Australia we have a product branded Dettol. They sell a lot of personal sanitation products. One of which is an "Instant Hand Sanitiser". Bear with me here with the long winded descriptions beause I have no idea wether Dettol is international.
This product is simply denatued alcohol in a Gel with a "perdy" lime scent to it. That said I am sure similar products exsist under different names all over the world nowadays.
Mine is in a handy little squirt dispenser and I have taken to having it near because it is a great antiseptic for cuts and scratches ( I am one of those "already in pain from cut what's a bit more pain kind of guys). Needless to say the kids go for mum if injured.
Also to be blunt I am a grub and my carvings get all smudged from handling. I am sure I am not alone.
It turns out that the Hand Cleaner Gel is bloody marvelous for cleaning carvings. Just a toothbrush, a generous squirt, a good brush and a fast wipe over with handtowel and the carvings are vastly improved (prob sterile too).
The first one of my painted carvings that gets grubby from handling will get cleaned this way too. If I wreck the paint I will know not to do it again but, I predict the hand cleaner wont hurt the water based acrylics I use.
I feel I might have made a breakthrough here.
By the way it doesn't seem to raise the grain as bad as soap and water either (might be my heated imagination on that one)!
Thinking along here the product has Glycol in it and that is a component in PEG solution so maybe this does something. Or it could be that it dries super fast so the grain doesn't get a chance to soften and raise.
No I dont have shares in Dettol
Rob.

[Claude]

I use that hand sanitizer every time I ride the Metro or the Virginia Rail to work in Washington, DC. People touch the door handles, the hand-holds, the windows...ewwwww! I didn't use to care, but my wife has convinced me to start being a bit more sanitation concious, especially with the flu going around, and all the other germs that can shorten my retirement, assuming I retire...

Hadn't thought off it as a carving cleaner - I use a bar of white soap and an old toothbrush, but I may have to try it.

Claude

[Iowa Carver]

That should work fine Rob. The glycol I believe is a drying agent. Just beware if you ever use a tinted product that is similar with a die. I have used one blue soap that can leave a blue tint if not rinsed all the way off.

Corey

[bigEd_H]

Rob, I use hand sanitizer all the time, but I never thought of using to clean my carvings. Neat idea. BTW, the stuff I use has a nice vanilla scent.

Ed

[carver33]

Rob,

Thanks for the heads-up. My wife has several varieties of the stuff all over the house and her car. I'll have to give it a try.

[Mark Dellinger]

Rob,
When I started carving, the guy that was my biggest help at the time told me one day. "you know your'e hooked on vcarving when you start to apply evrything in terms as how can I use this in my carving" Guess you must be hooked. Hope this discovery works well for you and all of us who will give it a try.
Thanks for sharing.

Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark