Tonight's batch of hand sanitizer

[John K Jordan]

Mixed up about a gallon of hand sanitizer, 80% Isopropyl alcohol. The bottles are 4oz, 8oz, and 16oz.
The small bottles are nice to keep in the car for when you come out of the grocery store.

hand_sanitizer.jpg

Sending them out tomorrow. Hand sanitizer is still only rarely available in stores here and we know people who are running low or have none.

JKJ

[Patrick Walsh]

I have been using straight alcohol since the first reported cased in China lol..

I only go out on average like once every 2-3 weeks at this point. It’s totally a chore in some respects as I after means running low on the basics and eating plain pasta day in and day out for weeks on end.

At some point it will sadly have to change. I say sadly as I suspect it will be a fairly risky endeavor involving ourselfs with others maybe not as cautious as ourself. I’m not mush looking forward to this stress. I just stay home forever if I could virus or no virus but dealing with others whom don’t heed to caution well.

Anyway what else to mix with the alcohol as I should probably make some. Can’t get masks to save my life. Ordered some handmade deals but they have yet to show up.

Mixed up about a gallon of hand sanitizer, 80% Isopropyl alcohol. The bottles are 4oz, 8oz, and 16oz.
The small bottles are nice to keep in the car for when you come out of the grocery store.

hand_sanitizer.jpg

Sending them out tomorrow. Hand sanitizer is still only rarely available in stores here and we know people who are running low or have none.

JKJ

[Stan Calow]

Our local grocery store has had boxes of surgical masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer intermittently. Local distilleries remaking the hand sanitizer, but its all liquid, not the gel people are used to. You can mix the alcohol with aloe vera gel.
I was out yesterday at hardware store and grocery store, and estimate less than 10% of customers were wearing masks, none wearing gloves. The workers at the stores were even less - just some the cashiers wore masks. I even see some businesses with open signs that are not essential. Regardless of what mayors/governors/presidents say, people are giving up.

[Patrick Walsh]

That’s great,

Karma is a bitch is all I can say..

Sadly in this case their karma might just kill me or someone close to me.

I should feel bad for their situation or rather stupidity but I really don’t.

Our local grocery store has had boxes of surgical masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer intermittently. Local distilleries remaking the hand sanitizer, but its all liquid, not the gel people are used to. You can mix the alcohol with aloe vera gel.
I was out yesterday at hardware store and grocery store, and estimate less than 10% of customers were wearing masks, none wearing gloves. The workers at the stores were even less - just some the cashiers wore masks. I even see some businesses with open signs that are not essential. Regardless of what mayors/governors/presidents say, people are giving up.

[John K Jordan]

Anyway what else to mix with the alcohol as I should probably make some. Can’t get masks to save my life. Ordered some handmade deals but they have yet to show up.

The recommendations from the WHO and FDA are now 80% Ethanol or 75% Isopropyl alcohol . It is recommended to start with pure alcohol. Warning: do NOT use denatured alcohol which can be toxic when applied to the skin due to additives that make it undrinkable.

Ethanol is "nicer" and smells better than isopropyl but expensive and difficult to find except in industrial quantities or from laboratory suppliers or at the liquor store The problem is it's almost impossible to find locally and extremely expensive from places like Amazon - I've seen prices of 400% to over 1000% of what I paid. I had about 16oz of pure laboratory grade ethanol but found 99% isopropyl and bought two gallons. If using alcohol already diluted such as vodka you have to do the percentage calculation carefully.

This page has the official recommendations ( https://www.fda.gov/drugs/guidances-...ance-documents ) but they are intended for industry and difficult for a non-chemist to understand and formulate. There are lots of web sites with recipes. I think any of them will work as long as the concentration of alcohol is high enough. The FDA recommends to not add anything that might make it smell good enough that a small child would ingest it.

The pure alcohol will sanitize but can dry the skin and evaporates a bit to quickly.

I've tried several recipes, one adds aloe vera gel, one adds distilled water and a small quantity of glycerin and/or hydrogen peroxide. The additives can make it easier on your skin.

I made the 1st two batches with aloe vera. One small problem is you have to shake that before each use since the gel tends to accumulate at the bottom of the bottle. No problem if you remember to shake but if not when you get to the bottom of the bottle you'll have a lower concentration of alcohol and a higher concentration of gel. For the current batch I added 400 ml to a 500 ml mixing cup, added some glycerin and diluted hydrogen peroxide, added distilled water to make 500 ml, then added a couple of drops of an essential oil to take the edge of the smell of the isopropyl alcohol.

This stuff is liquid enough to put in a spray bottle but I put it in good quality plastic squeeze bottles purchased from Amazon. Caution: I've bought some bottles that I consider worthless. These are good and don't leak: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074XM547S I generally use 4oz bottles since they are easy to carry in the car and in the pocket inside the store.

JKJ

[Patrick Walsh]

So,what your saying is back to the interweb...

The recommendations from the WHO and FDA are now 80% Ethanol or 75% Isopropyl alcohol . It is recommended to start with pure alcohol. Warning: do NOT use denatured alcohol which can be toxic when applied to the skin due to additives that make it undrinkable.

Ethanol is "nicer" and smells better than isopropyl but expensive and difficult to find except in industrial quantities or from laboratory suppliers or at the liquor store The problem is it's almost impossible to find locally and extremely expensive from places like Amazon - I've seen prices of 400% to over 1000% of what I paid. I had about 16oz of pure laboratory grade ethanol but found 99% isopropyl and bought two gallons. If using alcohol already diluted such as vodka you have to do the percentage calculation carefully.

This page has the official recommendations ( https://www.fda.gov/drugs/guidances-...ance-documents ) but they are intended for industry and difficult for a non-chemist to understand and formulate. There are lots of web sites with recipes. I think any of them will work as long as the concentration of alcohol is high enough. The FDA recommends to not add anything that might make it smell good enough that a small child would ingest it.

The pure alcohol will sanitize but can dry the skin and evaporates a bit to quickly.

I've tried several recipes, one adds aloe vera gel, one adds distilled water and a small quantity of glycerin and/or hydrogen peroxide. The additives can make it easier on your skin.

I made the 1st two batches with aloe vera. One small problem is you have to shake that before each use since the gel tends to accumulate at the bottom of the bottle. No problem if you remember to shake but if not when you get to the bottom of the bottle you'll have a lower concentration of alcohol and a higher concentration of gel. For the current batch I added 400 ml to a 500 ml mixing cup, added some glycerin and diluted hydrogen peroxide, added distilled water to make 500 ml, then added a couple of drops of an essential oil to take the edge of the smell of the isopropyl alcohol.

This stuff is liquid enough to put in a spray bottle but I put it in good quality plastic squeeze bottles purchased from Amazon. Caution: I've bought some bottles that I consider worthless. These are good and don't leak: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074XM547S I generally use 4oz bottles since they are easy to carry in the car and in the pocket inside the store.

JKJ

[Mark Daily]

Alcohol of any kind (except liquor) is impossible to find in the Phoenix area.

[Patrick Walsh]

Weird..

I know Arizona is a large state a I used to winter there, when I was racing bicycles so I could train through the winter effectively.

Oddly enough my other just told me last evening that she was on a conference call and mentioned being low on pretty much everything. One of her colleagues in Arizona I guess the Northwest corner some owner near Utah and Colorado offered to get and send her whatever she needed as in this part of Arizona there is nothing really gong on and the grocery stores are stocked with everything.

I do get that just a hour down the road that could be very different. I was surprised to hear what I did..

Alcohol of any kind (except liquor) is impossible to find in the Phoenix area.

[Darcy Warner]

I don't even own any hand sanitizer, none at home, none at my shop. I have no masks and wearing gloves everywhere seems extremely pointless as well.

Bennett to grocery, welding supply house, hardware and electrical supply house this week. Thank goodness I'm in Indiana and not MI, OH, KY or IL as those states have lost their minds.

[Kev Williams]

Our local grocery store has had boxes of surgical masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer intermittently. Local distilleries remaking the hand sanitizer, but its all liquid, not the gel people are used to. You can mix the alcohol with aloe vera gel.
I was out yesterday at hardware store and grocery store, and estimate less than 10% of customers were wearing masks, none wearing gloves. The workers at the stores were even less - just some the cashiers wore masks. I even see some businesses with open signs that are not essential. Regardless of what mayors/governors/presidents say, people are giving up.

That’s great,

Karma is a bitch is all I can say..

Sadly in this case their karma might just kill me or someone close to me.

I should feel bad for their situation or rather stupidity but I really don’t.

I could put a link to a recent study dealing with how what/who you watch on TV affects your perception of reality, but since it's a wee bit political, I won't. But it's out there if you look...

meanwhile, I spontaneously blurted this out to the wife the other day after watching some 'news'. She laughed and said 'you should put that on the internet'...

ok-

stu2.jpg

NObody likes the situation we're in, but what some people seem to be thinking just boggles the mind...

[Jim Koepke]

Thank goodness I'm in Indiana and not MI, OH, KY or IL as those states have lost their minds.

It may seem so, in the long run they are hoping they do not lose thier lives.

There is a joke circulating in Germany, "what borders on insanity?"

"Canada and Mexico."

jtk

[Matt Day]

Darcy, for you and your family’s sake, and those around in the stores, I hope you decide to wear masks soon when going out.

Gloves don’t do anything, don’t bother.

And if you can’t buy a mask, cut a sleeve off an old t-shirt and wear it like a bandanna.

[Jamie Buxton]

A downside to 190-proof alcohol is that it burns. I know a guy who was decanting ethanol to make hand sanitizer, and it turned into a big fire. He's going to survive, but he's currently in the burn unit at the hospital. Maybe the aloe vera gel keeps the liquid alcohol from vaporizing, and makes it less flammable?

[Brian Elfert]

Our local grocery store has had boxes of surgical masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer intermittently. Local distilleries remaking the hand sanitizer, but its all liquid, not the gel people are used to. You can mix the alcohol with aloe vera gel.
I was out yesterday at hardware store and grocery store, and estimate less than 10% of customers were wearing masks, none wearing gloves. The workers at the stores were even less - just some the cashiers wore masks. I even see some businesses with open signs that are not essential. Regardless of what mayors/governors/presidents say, people are giving up.

Masks I understand. Gloves I do not understand. What exactly are gloves protecting you from? The virus doesn't infect through the skin. A contaminated glove is no better than a contaminated hand.

[Jim Koepke]

Masks I understand. Gloves I do not understand. What exactly are gloves protecting you from? The virus doesn't infect through the skin. A contaminated glove is no better than a contaminated hand.

Both masks and gloves are useful in reminding folks not to touch their faces.

They may not do a lot physically, but they do a lot by raising awareness.

Also with gloves when shopping in a grocery store, using a card reader at a gas pump or an ATM you will keep from getting virus on your fingers to then spread to other areas on your person that could be infected.

jtk