On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 3:30 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.di...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have some Xcelite tools from the early 1980s. They have been stinky > for over 30 years.
Same experience. I have some in a drawer on my work work-bench that were purchased in the early 80s and they still smell. > Definitely a butyrate stink (I used to > run chemistry shows at The Center of Science and Industry - one was on > Esters... we mixed a variety of alcohols with a variety of fatty acids > and let the audience smell the results... it was all fun and games > until I spilled 200ml of Butyric Acid on myself... :-P ) In high school chemistry we did some experiments with that stuff. I think the teacher just liked to stink up the school every year. Now I also have a bunch of drawers filled with Allen-Bradley carbon composition resistors from around 1970. All the leads have a whitish film on them that has a peculiar odor. They've been in the electrical lab at work, in an office environment since that time. I've always been a little curious about what caused it. -chuck