"Dykem Steel Blue" layout fluid

Dr.Jeff

Dr.Jeff

True Classic
This is the thin blue liquid that you can brush onto a surface to scribe your layout lines or to check the flatness when surfacing. Not the thick blue paste that is used to transfer one surface onto another ("Prussian Blue").

It comes in a plastic bottle with a applicator brush in the cap:
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As I was using it the bottle suddenly split open, spilling the dye all over my hands....giving me "Smurf" hands :p [but it wasn't funny at the time, it made a real mess]. Repeated scrubbing with hand cleaner, solvent, soap, etc, removed a lot of it. But not under my nails, in deeper skin crevices, and partial fingerprints. Anyone know what is effective at removing this stuff without subjecting my skil to toxic substances?
 
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Dr.Jeff said:
This is the thin blue liquid that you can brush onto a surface to scribe your layout lines or to check the flatness when surfacing. Not the thick blue paste that is used to transfer one surface onto another ("Prussian Blue").

It comes in a plastic bottle with a applicator brush in the cap:
View attachment 76199

As I was using it the bottle suddenly split open, spilling the dye all over my hands....giving me "Smurf" hands. [Wasn't funny at the time, it made a real mess]. Repeated scrubbing with hand cleaner, solvent, soap, etc, removed a lot of it. But not under my nails, in deeper skin crevices, and partial fingerprints. Anyone know what is effective at removing this stuff without subjecting my skil to toxic substances?
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You are in Vegas. Give the "Blue Man Group" a call and see what they use.
 
Did you try the stuff in the spray can that's specifically made for removing dykem? If you are not aware of this stuff, I'll go down to the shop and take a picture of it so you know what you are looking for.
 
Pete Whitstone said:
Did you try the stuff in the spray can that's specifically made for removing dykem? If you are not aware of this stuff, I'll go down to the shop and take a picture of it so you know what you are looking for.
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Thanks Pete. I figured there must be such a product specifically made for that but I didn't have any. I'm 45 minutes outside of town so rather than make a special trip I was wondering if there's something common that works for cleaning this stuff off. I tried paint thinner but to my surprise that didn't do much. I'm not willing to use stronger solvents on my skin. Fortunately with repeated washings it is coming off over time with only a few difficult spots around the nails remaining.
 
SuperTopo said:
bummer, one of the many reasons why I wear latex gloves whenever I do anything in the shop...
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For the most part I do not like wearing latex gloves in this extremely hot climate because they make your hands sweat so badly. The gloves fill up with sweat to the point of it running (pouring) out every time you lift your hands. However for doing something like this I usually put them on long enough to do the task then remove them. This time I failed to do so. It was a weird incident; I picked up the bottle and as I was removing the cap the bottom of the plastic bottle cracked open. Although things like this aren't totally uncommon here - the hot dry climate turns anything plastic brittle and fragile. It also evaporates fluids even in sealed containers. Pretty amazing just how harsh it is.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Thanks Pete. I figured there must be such a product specifically made for that but I didn't have any. I'm 45 minutes outside of town so rather than make a special trip I was wondering if there's something common that works for cleaning this stuff off. I tried paint thinner but to my surprise that didn't do much. I'm not willing to use stronger solvents on my skin. Fortunately with repeated washings it is coming off over time with only a few difficult spots around the nails remaining.
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I assume by "paint thinner" you are referring to mineral spirits, I'm not surprised that didn't have much of an effect, if that's what you used. Laquer thinner would be better suited to getting it off, but I bet that's one of the "stronger solvents" you refer to.
 
Pete Whitstone said:
I assume by "paint thinner" you are referring to mineral spirits, I'm not surprised that didn't have much of an effect, if that's what you used. Laquer thinner would be better suited to getting it off, but I bet that's one of the "stronger solvents" you refer to.
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Russe11 said:
Try Acetone (Fingernail Polish Remover)
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Yes, mineral spirits, which is a very mild solvent. But I did not want to expose my skin to anything more harsh than necessary. I've done way too much of that over my lifetime. The effects are cumulative and I am already experiencing some side effects from all these years of chemical exposure while working on cars.

Same comment about acetone. At least at that time. It was all over my hands so that would have been considerable exposure. However.....
now that most of it has gone from my skin, and what's remaining is mainly only around my nails, I could use a stronger solvent to get that part off. ;)

Thanks to both of you.
 
Dykem comes in red or the common blue. Alternative to using dykem is color sharpie marker (black, red or etc) if the area to be marked is not large. Common among folks making single point threads on a lathe to Sharpie market to color the threaded area for the initial scratch pass to check for thread pitch and threading tool contact.


Bernice
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Yes, mineral spirits, which is a very mild solvent. But I did not want to expose my skin to anything more harsh than necessary. I've done way too much of that over my lifetime. The effects are cumulative and I am already experiencing some side effects from all these years of chemical exposure while working on cars.

Same comment about acetone. At least at that time. It was all over my hands so that would have been considerable exposure. However.....
now that most of it has gone from my skin, and what's remaining is mainly only around my nails, I could use a stronger solvent to get that part off. ;)

Thanks to both of you.
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Wear gloves...

Bernice
 
If you have the time, mother nature will remove it, along with outer layer of skin that the body normally gets rid of.

I have used chemicals that make my cheap HF gloves fall apart!
 
Tip for doing layouts on metal parts..

Clean off the part to be made really good, use a thin line sharpie marker instead of dykem or similar dye with scribe. That practice of layout went out decades ago due to the scribe marks being stress risers that can produce/cause a part failure due to crack prorogation from the scribed lines.
Using a sharpie marker to layout does not have this problem and if there is an error, the sharpie line is erasable with no trace of the error.


Bernice
 
carl said:
If you have the time, mother nature will remove it, along with outer layer of skin that the body normally gets rid of.

I have used chemicals that make my cheap HF gloves fall apart!
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Very true. At the time it happened my hands really looked horrible and repeated cleaning with abrasive hand-cleaner, soap, and thinner did nothing to improve it. So I was imagining having to go several days like that before the skin cells sloughed off enough to take the dye with it. And that's when I posted the question about what to use. But even a day later it is looking much better so I guess I overreacted a little. I think a close trimming of the nails and a little use of a stronger agent will make it appear fine. Fortunately I don't have any appointments until the end of the week.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Very true. At the time it happened my hands really looked horrible and repeated cleaning with abrasive hand-cleaner, soap, and thinner did nothing to improve it. So I was imagining having to go several days like that before the skin cells sloughed off enough to take the dye with it. And that's when I posted the question about what to use. But even a day later it is looking much better so I guess I overreacted a little. I think a close trimming of the nails and a little use of a stronger agent will make it appear fine. Fortunately I don't have any appointments until the end of the week.
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Seriously, if what you were looking for is a safe solvent, Acetone is a good choice. It'll dry the skin a bit, but without long term effect. It's produced in nature, including in your body. It's much less harsh than most other solvents, and is in the classification referred to as "Generally Regarded As Safe". It's the primary ingredient in Nail Polish Remover (which involves skin contact) and in Dykem remover. (It'll remove Sharpie marker cleanly, too.)
As you've found 'Time' is also effective at removing stuff from your skin, but it works much more slowly. And in sufficient quantities even 'Time' has undesirable side-effects.
 
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In our workshops we make our own using a mixture of gentian blue (dye) and alcohol (carrier/solvent).
So I would give some alcohol, in whatever form you have available, a try before using any more "nasty" chemicals.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for everyone's input. :)

As it turned out I did not have to do anything more. By the second day all of it was gone from my hands. Apparently it was more superficial than it looked and my initial reaction was premature. :rolleyes:
 
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