Can you Say? Hazmat!! I acquired these last week while in St,Louis on a prats run. Still trying to make up my mind, Too polish or not too polish that is the question. And yes they are...

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Hazmat!!
I acquired these last week while in St,Louis on a prats run.
Still trying to make up my mind, Too polish or not too polish that is the question.
And yes they are still charged. yes I know the chemical is hazardous, I grew up when it was used as spot remover etc. Even though it hasn't been used in household products and dry-cleaning since 1968+/-, and Brake parts cleaner since the late 1980's, it has not been banned as far as I can find.
I will not use it.

1Qt.

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1.5 Qt
1.5 Qt...

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tainkc Loc: Kansas City

First off, if you think they are worth something, you need to have the appraised. Then you need to ask the question if polishing them lowers or raises their value. I learned all of this by watching the Antiques Roadshow. Ha, ha.

Next thing, I love carbontet. I used to use it to raise the octane level of the gasoline in my tank. It doesn't take much. I had a 20 gallon drum full of it. Some one stole it. To this day, I am still really bummed over it. That was back in 1980.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

tainkc wrote:

First off, if you think they are worth something, you need to have the appraised. Then you need to ask the question if polishing them lowers or raises their value. I learned all of this by watching the Antiques Roadshow. Ha, ha.

Next thing, I love carbontet. I used to use it to raise the octane level of the gasoline in my tank. It doesn't take much. I had a 20 gallon drum full of it. Some one stole it. To this day, I am still really bummed over it. That was back in 1980.

They probably aren't worth much more than I paid for them !!
I learned not to make old things look new when I was a teenager

I used to carry 3-5 of these on my wrecker in the 1960s-80s they were great for drying out wet distributors .

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Frank, there is a certain amount of attractiveness that lies in the appearance as they are. The unpolished look testifies to the age and enhances the characteristics of the products.
--Bob

Manglesphoto wrote:

Hazmat!!
I acquired these last week while in St,Louis on a prats run.
Still trying to make up my mind, Too polish or not too polish that is the question.
And yes they are still charged. yes I know the chemical is hazardous, I grew up when it was used as spot remover etc. Even though it hasn't been used in household products and dry-cleaning since 1968+/-, and Brake parts cleaner since the late 1980's, it has not been banned as far as I can find.
I will not use it.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

rmalarz wrote:

Frank, there is a certain amount of attractiveness that lies in the appearance as they are. The unpolished look testifies to the age and enhances the characteristics of the products.
--Bob

These things could be older than me

1906-WWI era
I know they were still in use in in city busses as late as 1960 maybe even later.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Nice, Frank. I would leave them as is.

dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

Never polish anything!

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Good find I too would leave them alone. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), a liver toxin among other things, is probably the most dangerous of the chlorinated solvents.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Curmudgeon wrote:

Good find I too would leave them alone. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), a liver toxin among other things, is probably the most dangerous of the chlorinated solvents.

And then when heated !!!!! even more dangerous

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Manglesphoto wrote:

And then when heated !!!!! even more dangerous

Yep generates Phosgene gas. The same stuff the Germans used a chemical weapons in WW I

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Curmudgeon wrote:

Yep generates Phosgene gas. The same stuff the Germans used a chemical weapons in WW I

Many years ago the test for a Freon 12 used a copper disk ( sniffer) usually heated to red-hot with an acetylene/air torch, when the Freon passed over the disk the flame turned a bright blue denoting a leak, the test made phosgene gas!! but not enough to cause a problem, next turn off torch shut off valves on the unit and then pump it down!!
My Dad was a refrigeration service man at that time and warned me not to sniff the gas, but did show me what it smelled like, A very sweet but acrid odor, his instructions were if I smelled that odor was to "get the hell out of dodge" and warn everyone else to do the same!!!
In reading scientific data, I found just passing through a flame will cause the Freon & Carbon Tetrachloride just a couple of many Chlorine based compounds to create toxic Gases.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

I remember them well, always had one on the boat!

ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA

I used to buy that stuff in a glass bottle with a felt type cap. It really worked great on stains - especially ring-around the collar. I probably breathed in way too much!
Don't polish is my take - they're great display pieces as is.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Great find. Gosh knows how much carbontet that I inhaled over the many passing moons. It was my goto parts cleaner when I would rebuild refrigeration compressors used for commercial and industrial refrigeration. Come to think of it, perhaps that's why I'm bald now!!

jederick Loc: Northern Utah

Brings back memories...we had one in a Chevron station I worked at as a teenager!!