On Sun, 3 Jan 2021 08:39:36 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:

On 02/01/2021 22:11, Custos Custodum wrote:
On Sat, 2 Jan 2021 20:55:02 +0000, newshound
wrote:

On 02/01/2021 18:32, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 02/01/2021 17:59, rick wrote:
In years gone by, it used to be 1:1:1 Trichloroethane as the ideal
thinner.** I know that was outlawed.

Have several bottles of genuine Tipp-Ex*** (as apart from some water
based stuff)
The Warning triangle states Highly Flammable - so still solvent based.

Any of the Chemical chappies on here know what I could use as a thinner?
** ..... I have some of the more common ones - meths, acetone, cellulose
thinners, Trichloroethane , ISO-propyl alcohol.

Bar code tells me it is Tipp-Ex Rapid made in Germany.
It is Art No. 4002523 09
UPC* 0 7033051106 4

Wikipedia says that has now been replaced by Aliphatic Hydrocarbon, and
also now uses a foam brush.
The containers I have still have the original 'brush'***** ..... so
unsure if the product is with or without Tricho
According to the MSDS at
http://www.staples.co.uk/Content/Static/pdf/2017/10/297781020.pdf it
contains:
Naphtha (petroleum), hydrotreated light - 30 - 40%
Naphtha (petroleum), light alkylate - 10%
2-methoxy-1-methylethyl acetate - 10%

Seems to me you could try a few drops of petrol to thin it, unless
anybody here is certain it wouldn't work.

Or white spirit.

One thing you can be sure of is that if they are labelled highly
flammable, they won't be trichloroethane!

Way back in the 1960s, one of my schoolmates bought some carbon tet
from the local pharmacist (they used to stock such things in those
days but I can't remember what his pretext was). It came in a brown,
ribbed "poison" bottle with a "flammable" sticker. Those were the days
- a whole pound of unadulterated sodium chlorate from the ironmonger
for a few pence. What fun we had!

I think you've got it confused with something else.

No, it was definitely carbon tet. That's why the mis-labelling was so
amusing.

Carbon tetrachloride
was widely available up to the 70s as a "dry" cleaner spot/stain remover
under the trade name "Thawpit"

He probably wasn't aware of that. I certainly wasn't.

(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332351647481289580/). It was pretty
much pure carbon tet. However, carbon tet isn't inflammable; in fact, it
could be found in many of those hand-held pump-type fire extinguishers
which were often carried on buses and other vehicles (Pyrene -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carbon_tetrachloride_1930s_fire_extinguisher. jpg).

I'm pretty sure there was one just like that in my dad's old Rover
3500 when he bought it. I can remember it lying about the garage after
he had removed it (along with the LPG conversion).

Yes, it was a sad day when they added a fire depressant to sodium chlorate!

At least you could still use it as a weed killer. It was an even
sadder day when they banned it altogether. I wonder if we'll get it
back now that we've left the EU?