mold forms on cords, knobs, and tool handles

My adult daughters say the same about me :-(

micky wrote on Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:21:50 -0500:

micky wrote on Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:21:50 -0500:

Does it look like this?

Or this?

The former I always attributed to some kind of persistent "moldy" like white paste (which I've long ago painstakingly scraped off handle that tool you see in the picture so that only remnants remain)

The other is on my pool pump - which - you can imagine - isn't mold but a white chemical covering (calcium carbonate?).

So, the first question, is whether it's a mold or a chemical? Note: I don't know the answer for either of my tools above.

micky wrote on Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:21:50 -0500:

Does it look like this?

Or this?

The former I always attributed to some kind of persistent "moldy" like white paste (which I've long ago painstakingly scraped off handle that tool you see in the picture so that only remnants remain)

The other is on my pool pump - which - you can imagine - isn't mold but a white chemical covering (calcium carbonate?).

So, the first question, is whether it's a mold or a chemical? Note: I don't know the answer for either of my tools above.

That's exactly my experience.

The plastic on the handles was coated with a thin white layer which I could scrape off with a sharp tool (the results in that picture are of a screwdriver scraped years ago, but some of the persistent white stuff is still on the handle, in spots).

I don't know WHAT it is!

Like you experienced, it wouldn't 'wash' off and chlorine bleach didn't faze it (of course, if it 'is' mold, it would be dead but still there if bleach did kill it, since it's white).

I don't know if it's a "mold" or a "chemical". It does seem to 'infect' other tools - but both a mold and a chemical 'can' do that (think hydrochloric acid).

That's EXACTLY what this screwdriver USED to look like!

So, whatever it is, it's common.

Again, I don't know if it is a mold or a chemical. It does NOT happen to all tools of the same type.

It just happens to select tools which were stored in a different environment (I think my affected screwdrivers were used when I worked at a hospital on oxygen respirators).

Migration to the surface of a plasticizer, or an un-cured acrylic monomer, followed by oxidation?

Wow. The real Jeff Liebermann (two n's and i-before-e) on alt.home.repair.

I'm impressed. You're the expert in the SC mountains for wireless radio. Glad to have you here.

I am VERY FAMILIAR with this persistent "white stuff". I have no idea WHAT it is - but I have it too.

It's either a chemical coating or it's a mold-like growth. It does seem to be hugely persistent, in that if you don't scrape it away, it will last (seemingly unchanged) forever.

I remember segregating my white-coated tools a while ago, but I no longer do that once I manually scraped them (mostly) clean.

I seem to remember that the white stuff "infected" other tools, but, it's no longer doing that (after twenty years). But, that white stuff you see in this photo is easily twenty years old!

It had coated that screwdriver handle with a white persistent but powdery on the outside surface coating just like the picture the OP posted over here:

I considered throwing the screwdrivers away, but, my sense of tool preservation had me soak that screwdriver maybe 15 years ago in all sorts of horrid solvents (acetone, bleach, acid, etc.) in my attempts to clean it off.

If anyone actually KNOWS what this white stuff is, I'd be curious!

The original message was crossposted to sci.electronics.repair, another of my hangouts.

Not much wireless happening lately. alt.wireless.internet is essentially dead. Wireless has become a commodity after about 15 years, which is a good thing.

I do. However, if you want a microscope photo, I'll bring the "moldy" screwdriver from home, put it under the microscope, and take some photos. I assure you that it's plastic, not spores.

Yep. It doesn't grow. Therefore, it's not mold.

My early Craftsman tools, when they were made by Miller Falls, do not collect plastic rot. The later Craftsman tools, probably made in China, have the plastic rot problem.

Grumble. That's my picture and I'm NOT the OP. The tools with the acrylic coating are kinda rough, but plastic rot. The two with plastic rot may have been added after I coated the others. I don't recall.

The only things that actually directly attacked the white stuff were mild plastic solvents. However, anything that dissolved the white stuff, also attacked the plastic handle, so that's not a good fix.

Send it to a pathology lab and see what they say.

Well, you can easily eliminate calcium carbonate (lime) as a possibility. Take some dilute hydrochloric acid (Muriatic Acid or pool chlorine), and smear it on the plastic rot. If it fizzes and belches gases, it's calcium carbonate. If it doesn't fizz, it's something else: CaCO3 + 2HCl -> CaCl2 +CO2 + H2O

micky wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Dont touch the utils with greasy fingers. That feeds the mould.

Well, you're famous for having the right answer in the electrical realm, so, I would have to give you the benefit of the doubt in the mechanical.

True. It just sort of sits there. Minding its own business.

Ooops. Sorry about that. Your picture, as always, was perfectly apropos! Too bad the OP didn't have the skills you have for Internet nntp work.

Come to think of it, VERY FEW people have your skills. You've helped me quite a few times (under various nyms) on the wireless side, what with that lousy set of WISPS in the SC mountains (yea, Brett, you know him as I do. He's nice enough - but he's too busy and harried to give you the technical time of day, and Dave, well, I'm glad I dropped them).

I seem to remember I soaked mine in a variety of nasty solvents, none of which worked - and then - about 10 years ago (or so, as I don't really remember), I just scraped them clean. Have been that way ever since.

I wish I had the following 'scopes ... a) microscope b) oscilloscope c) telescope

:)

I'll try that tomorrow as I have tons of pool acid (HCl).

Like you, I'll take a relevant picture, and let the world know the results.

If it is mold, I doubt shop grease would feed it as I don't think anything has evolved to eat grease just yet. Wait a few thousand years, and I'm sure they will.

Now, if you meant oily fingers (from human sebum), I'm sure LOTS of organisms find that yummy.

Bad idea. I jumped into sci.electronics.design with my ancient and obsolete experience. It appears that some things have changed in the last 20+ years. After shoving my foot firmly into my mouth several times, I've decided that I don't really know everything. Try not to assume that I'm always right, as I've made some rather spectacular technical screwups. However, it appears that I know more about management than many engineers, so I'm not a total loss.

Answering questions is easy. The real problem is that most people are not really well versed in the art of how to ask a proper question. Most of what I do rather well, is decoding such questions, reading between the lines as to what this person is really trying to accomplish, and then answering the questions they didn't ask. If I control both the question and the answer, it's all quite easy.

I wish you wouldn't do that.

You're not getting my microscope:

I have far too many oscilloscopes. I was about to fix some of them and put them on eBay. Make me rich and you can have one of them.

I do have a crappy 4.5" Celestron reflector with a few eyepieces that is cluttering up my bedroom. Can't see anything through the trees and I don't feel like freezing on some mountain top.

You can have mutant oil eating bacteria today:

I usually wear blue latex rubber gloves when working with anything potentially nasty or messy. It's not really for protection but because I dislike cleaning up everything I touch afterwards. Black fingerprints on my (music) synthesizer keyboard is not a good thing.

Heh heh. That's a nice microscope with a nice oscilloscope in the background!

I hadn't realized they were that advanced!

My mother eventually began, when I was over 40 she said it outloud,, to believe that I would do whatever she told me not to do. After I noticed this, I asked her, So if I do what you tell me not to do, why do you keep telling me not to do these things? She didn't have an answer, but afaict she didnt' stop either.

I have some hard spots on my tool handles like that, but I know what it is. It is remnants of paint that may have been on my hands when I used the tool while painting, like removing face plates off switches and outlets, or other uses of the tool while painting.