Lacing cord wax: Any known health issues?

[Joerg]

Hey Folks,

So I finally have to suggest a lacing cord method to a client, for a
while, until they can have custom fasteners made. There's lots of wax in
th MIL stuff which sticks to your fingers. Are there any possible health
issues that come to mind? Allergies maybe? I am not aware of any and
have personally used it a lot, just inquiring.

 

[Adrian Tuddenham]

Hey Folks,

So I finally have to suggest a lacing cord method to a client, for a
while, until they can have custom fasteners made. There's lots of wax in
th MIL stuff which sticks to your fingers. Are there any possible health
issues that come to mind? Allergies maybe? I am not aware of any and
have personally used it a lot, just inquiring.

Wax is pretty inert stuff - although the human body can develop
allergies to almost anything. It has been used in the radio and
television business for years without any major problems arising. The
wax can make fingers and clothing a bit messy; it is difficult to wash
off with just soap.

The easiest way of cutting nylon lacing cord, if you are a one-man-band,
is to grab the soldering iron and melt it. That releases a lot of wax
vapour and nylon smoke, which might be a problem to anyone with
breathing difficulties or asthma. In a production line situation it
would be easy to make sure that a pair of sharp scissors was available
and the soldering irons were somewhere else, so that particular problem
should not arise.

The most likely cause of injury is a thin-skinned operator pulling the
cord too tight and cutting his/her fingers. Gloves are not a sensible
option because they make this sort of fine work very difficult and they
sometimes *do* cause allergies. It is easy to pull the cord tight with
a small pair of long-nosed pliers with rounded backs to the jaws; the
cord is gripped in the jaws and then taken a couple of turns around both
closed jaws before pulling hard.

Hope this helps.

 

[Joerg]

Thanks, John. Looks pretty benign then.

 

[Joerg]

Contact the place you buy lacing cord from, and ask for an MSDS.
Apologetically. Perhaps ask them to throw in an MSDS for drinking water
while you're at it.

The client has to get the MSDS'es for anything they use in production
anyhow. I was more wondering about allergies. For example, 10 years ago
I wouldn't even have dreamed people could be allergic to Latex gloves or
peanuts.

It certainly _could_ be safe: the stuff that I have looks like it's waxed
with beeswax. Of course, the stuff that I have came in a cabinet of
stuff from my uncle's estate, which means that it could very well have
been surplussed from the Boeing B-17 assembly line right after WWII.

Back from the days when a bottle of Southern Comfort was the medicine
against just about any kind of diseease

 

[Rich Grise]

So I finally have to suggest a lacing cord method to a client, for a
while, until they can have custom fasteners made. There's lots of wax in
th MIL stuff which sticks to your fingers. Are there any possible health
issues that come to mind? Allergies maybe? I am not aware of any and
have personally used it a lot, just inquiring.

That would depend on if the person is allergic to wax. The stuff's been
used in the military since before most of us were born - I'd think that
if there'd ever been any problem with it somebody would have heard of it
by now.

I'd say, don't worry, especially if you have an MSDS on hand.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise]

Wax is pretty inert stuff - although the human body can develop
allergies to almost anything. It has been used in the radio and
television business for years without any major problems arising. The
wax can make fingers and clothing a bit messy; it is difficult to wash
off with just soap.

The easiest way of cutting nylon lacing cord, if you are a one-man-band,
is to grab the soldering iron and melt it. That releases a lot of wax
vapour and nylon smoke, which might be a problem to anyone with
breathing difficulties or asthma. In a production line situation it
would be easy to make sure that a pair of sharp scissors was available
and the soldering irons were somewhere else, so that particular problem
should not arise.

I've always used a good sharp dikes - the wax will make it slide along
the scissor blades.

The most likely cause of injury is a thin-skinned operator pulling the
cord too tight and cutting his/her fingers. Gloves are not a sensible
option because they make this sort of fine work very difficult and they
sometimes *do* cause allergies. It is easy to pull the cord tight with
a small pair of long-nosed pliers with rounded backs to the jaws; the
cord is gripped in the jaws and then taken a couple of turns around both
closed jaws before pulling hard.

At one shop where I worked, they had those quart jugs of liquid rosin; I
dabbed some on my fingers one day and I had no problem getting a grip on
the lacing cord (ours was more like tape), even inside an airplane, where
everything is coated with a film of hydraulic fluid.

Cheers!
Rich

 

[StickThatInYourPipeAndSmokeIt]

Contact the place you buy lacing cord from, and ask for an MSDS.
Apologetically. Perhaps ask them to throw in an MSDS for drinking water
while you're at it.

It certainly _could_ be safe: the stuff that I have looks like it's waxed
with beeswax. Of course, the stuff that I have came in a cabinet of
stuff from my uncle's estate, which means that it could very well have
been surplussed from the Boeing B-17 assembly line right after WWII.

You guys are idiots. The stuff has been around forever and is mil
spec, so it is ALL made the same way.

It was made before the days of "artificial" waxes, so it is very
unlikely that the wax is anything other than normal bee's wax or
paraffin.
More likely the latter.

It has always been meant for hand tying, so the likelihood that it is
toxic in any way is at or below nil.