On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:17:28 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
...
Ed Huntress writes:

I thought that's why people used hydrofluoric
acid for small-batch passivating. Hot nitric is very nasty stuff.

And cold HF is even nastier.

But isn't it safer to handle, at least because of the cooler temperature?
And how about the fumes? I don't know the answers to these questions; I'm
just asking.

The only hydrofluoric I've been near is the pasty stuff that comes in a
tube, which you can get at your local welding supply. But I only needed a
dab of it.

HF you don't even want to be in the same zip code with - it gets in
your system and just keeps destroying.

-- Bruce --