On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:14:07 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:41:23 -0800, 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.

Yes, the yellow one has the most. I t hink my yellow ones are most
likely to have this and when they do, they have the most. The one
screwdriver that reminded me of this has a yellow plastic handle.
(The other two things t hat reminded me a couple days ago where jumper
wires with banana plugs, blue and green, but that's soft vinyl and not
hard plastic. ......))


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. I'm not sure why the
blue and yellow handles are affected.

Maybe because one is yellow? I just based a whole paragraph on that!

probably just forgot to coat
them (about 18 months ago). There is no rust anywhere inside the
toolbox on any of the other tools, so it's not moisture accumulation
or consensation.