In article ,
Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Also, an important clue is that I can have a drawer full of plastic
handle hex spintite wrenches, and only some of them will have a "mold"
problem. This implies that the culprit is resident mostly in the
plastic and not the environment.

Maybe a photo will help:
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/drivel/plastic-rot.jpg
This is a drawer from my steel Craftsman toolbox that I don't use very
often. The white stuff is the alleged "mold". Note that it's on two
of the handles, but not the others. The larger tools are made by
Vaco. The blue and the yellow handles are covered with the stuff.
However, the other handles, from the same manufacturer, are pitted,
but untouched. That's because they previously were cleaned and coated
with a very thin layer of Krylon clear acrylic.

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

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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