Register now to get rid of these ads!

Folks Of Interest Wet sanding with gasoline Tommy the Greek

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by steel rebel, Jan 27, 2010.

  1. tinmann
    Joined: Nov 11, 2005
    Posts: 1,588

    tinmann
    Member

    My dad was a sign painter and also did quickie automotive paint jobs (you prep and mask, he'd spray). At the end of each day I remember vividly he'd pour the lacquer thinner into a coffee can and wash out his brushes and work motor oil into the bristles when he was done. Then he'd dowse his hands into the thinner and scrub himself up to the elbows...... ah, those were the days!!

    Of course he died at 64....... hmmmm.
     
  2. Rich Wright
    Joined: Jan 9, 2008
    Posts: 3,922

    Rich Wright

    The first custom painter I worked for in '65 used to gas sand, usually just bike tins. I've done it a couple of times back then but times are different now. The reasoning in those days was to provide a lubricant for the paper. It helped keep the paint from "balling up" on the paper, which was a problem when sanding old lacquer jobs. It also kept the surface wet longer, without running off, resulting in less liquid being used to sand with.

    It was dangerous, no doubt, but hardly any more so than the open flame heaters, 5 gallon slop buckets in front of the 55s that were perpetually full, etc, etc.

    Any gas sanding i was ever involved with was done outside.

    The biggest complaint I had, the few times I did it, was the effect it had on my hands..... along with the fumes, of course.
     
  3. carcrazyjohn
    Joined: Apr 16, 2008
    Posts: 4,843

    carcrazyjohn
    Member
    from trevose pa

    My dad told me something you older guys would remember ,Buying Asbestos and mixing it with water for distributing heat for welding ,You older guys know a lot more than us .
     
  4. When handling hot metal at one place where I worked I wore braided asbestos gloves. The heat was really hot so they had fans blowing air at us, till the end of the day I had asbestos particles covering my eyebrows and hair. That was 50 years ago and I'm still kicking. We used gas and lacquer thinner to wash paint off our faces and arms. Later in the sixtes we used carbotechnicloride "excuse my spelling" to wash parts and our hands and arms. We just were never told how bad these chemicals were for you !
     
  5. redo32
    Joined: Jul 16, 2008
    Posts: 2,137

    redo32
    Member

    Hey Steel Rebel, I was hoping this thread would tell more stories about Tommy"The Greek". I would like to see any pictures of his work. My 3 window reportedly came from the Bay Area & had his striping on the dash. This is the only pic I have before it was stripped
     

    Attached Files:

  6. I can relate to that;I worked for a time at a ball bearing factory in the heat treating department and the racks used to run the bearing parts through the ovens would often get stuck.We had to use asbestos gloves AND aprons in order to get near the ovens(900 degrees F)with a long hooked rod to try and dislodge the racks.The heat was so intense we would hold our breath and rush in and could only stay there about 15 seconds.It usually took several,"runs" at the furnace before it started working again.They only shut those furnaces down once a year(for inventory)as it took two days for them to cool down and another two for them to get up to operating temperature.
    I remember using,"carbon tet"(carbon tetrachloride) as a brush cleaner when I first started striping in 1957.Bought it at the hardware store in 1qt. bottles marked,"Carbona Cleaning Fluid".Used extensively in dry cleaning clothes.Later found to be extremely toxic AND cancerous.
     
  7. my grandfather worked with Corvette Corner in San Fransisco and Less Voval Chevrolet
    they used pump gas till led was put in then white gas
    they mixed it with water had to stir it every time you dipped in to it

    later on they used prep sol and water
    they used it for cleaning grease and wax
     
  8. my neighbor Gregg Swanson new Tommy the Greak he did his Porshe
    he was friends with Steve Archer in San Fransisco he built bodies for Andy for the T's
    i was 12 when he built the first big tub (touring car)
     
  9. matt 3083
    Joined: Sep 23, 2005
    Posts: 137

    matt 3083
    Member
    from Tucson, Az

    I remember reading that GM used gas to prep
    paint during the Great Depression. It was
    considered one of the most dangerous jobs.
    Someone usually got burned at least once a
    month or so. There was always someone there
    to replace the guy. Times were that bad.
    Matt
     
  10. BuiltFerComfort
    Joined: Jan 24, 2007
    Posts: 1,619

    BuiltFerComfort
    Member

    Carbon tetrachloride - great stuff, a breathing hazard and carcinogen too. Used as dry cleaning fluid and found in some fire extinguishers. I read that Navy men would dip their whites in the carbon tet. in the fire extinguishers to get them clean, so that when there was an actual shipboard fire they had trouble with empty extinguishers.
     
  11. steel rebel
    Joined: Jun 14, 2006
    Posts: 3,604

    steel rebel
    Member Emeritus

    Any pictures of the striping on the dash. I can usually tell a Greek teardrop.
     
  12. RodP
    Joined: Mar 24, 2007
    Posts: 331

    RodP
    Member

    When I was in Junior College Auto Body class I was taught to color sand with white gas using 400 paper. For an extra slick finish we used 600. I remember sanding my 39 Chev Coupe in the street in front of my parents house. It was my first complete paint job. Don Varner helped me mix the metallic purple lacquer. It was winter time and my hands cracked so bad I was bleeding purple. I don't remember any hand cleaners other than Lava or Boraxo soap. We usually washed up first with lac. thinner.
    Another thing was that I was hand rubbing everything because I didn't own a buffer. I entered that car in the Roadster show a couple of weeks later. It was a lot different in those days. I think all of the materials cost about $30.00.
    RodP
     
  13. Hnstray
    Joined: Aug 23, 2009
    Posts: 12,355

    Hnstray
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Quincy, IL

    I worked around a body shop in the late 50's that did repaints, often in alkyd enamel. When a run occurred and needed to be fixed, they sanded it with gasoline. The enamel took months to fully cure, although it was dry to the touch the next day. But trying to sand a run, the whole panel for that matter, created lots of problems with the sandpaper clogging. That's where the gas came in. It did prevent/minimize clogging. Also, recall that mixing asbestos with water into a 'paper mache' like substance was used to absorb/control heat when welding panels. Oh, the good 'ol days!

    Ray
     
  14. torchmann
    Joined: Feb 26, 2009
    Posts: 787

    torchmann
    BANNED
    from Omaha, Ne

    My first ride I remember cleaning the engine with gas and getting loopy from the fumes.

    White gas... comes from natural gas. natural gas (LPG) contains alot of stuff. gasolene, butane, maybe propane etc...
    I delivered a load of Molasses to eugene NM at a natural gas refinery.
    They compress it and cool it. different solvents precipitate out. white gas is one of the heavier components of natural gas that precipitates out early in the process.
    white gas vapor actually rises in oil wells and condenses at the surface.
    A buddy of mine used to steal it from oilwells to run his car on. he said it ran hot.

    Oh, the reason the refinery needed molasses it that it has an affinity for chromates. they ran chromate solution through their pipes periodically to prevent rust. It got into the groundwater then the government found out it was bad stuff. they mix molasses 10% with water and pump it into the aquifer. some time later they pump it back out and treat it.
     
  15. HealeyRick
    Joined: May 5, 2009
    Posts: 573

    HealeyRick
    Member
    from Mass.

    Wasn't there a pre-mixed product called, "Moistbestos" for the same purpose?
     
  16. BJR
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 9,814

    BJR
    Member

    I thought that was a personal lubricant.
     
  17. donzzilla
    Joined: Oct 15, 2006
    Posts: 142

    donzzilla
    Member

    I have been a body & paint guy for a long time. I have heard that wives tale many times.

    Wanna put a "Myth Busters" FAILED to it? Try soaking any paint with an oil based petro chemical, then try and paint anything, any where near it again.

    Can you say massive fish eyes, boys and girls?

    Let alone, the run off would have melted the tires to the floor. I'm sure the Sears work boots they would have worn back then wouldn't have turned into ice skates while sanding.

    Didn't every one in a body shop smoke back then? WOOOOF!

    I believe the same guys that sanded with gas also cooked gourmet meals on intake manifolds and made cross country trips in a model T in less time then it takes us now in modern cars.

    Zilla!
     
  18. chopolds
    Joined: Oct 22, 2001
    Posts: 6,208

    chopolds
    Member
    from howell, nj
    1. Kustom Painters

    I had always heard about it from the old timers I worked for in the body shop. Kerosene, it was. They also used to put a cup of it into the wash water, when washing a car. Supposed to keep the paint from getting brittle (this was nitrocellulose days!) and also keep the chipped paint, from behind the mouldings, from rusting.
    The wetsanding part I tried out, after doing a black nitro job, but I did it like the washwater trick, only a cup into a bucket. It DID make sanding the nitro much easier, as just plain water or with a bit of detergent, the paint still clogged up the paper. The kero helped!
     
  19. donzzilla
    Joined: Oct 15, 2006
    Posts: 142

    donzzilla
    Member

    I never tried putting Kerosene in water. How does the oil and water mix?

    I have heard of automatic car washes using kerosene in the rinse water to make the car look shine-e-er, but it makes a mess of the windows.

    The question was about gasoline though. I never heard the myths of Kero to sand with.

    I have done a few nitro celulouse lacquer jobs. Water and soap worked fine. For many years I used Nitro-Stan which was basically just really thick nitro cellulose lacquer primer. The only time that clogged up was when it was still wet. When it dried it was ok.

    I always wondered about the gas sanding. Wouldn't it have stained the crap out of the lighter colors? Even chemically desolved the finish? Lay a gas soaked rag on a lacquer job, guess what happens? Do you remember how the old lacquer jobs had gas staining around the gas caps. Now swarted by urethanes.
     
  20. We added Fish-Eye-Eliminator to the lacquer before spraying, never had problems with fish eyes.
     
  21. Hnstray
    Joined: Aug 23, 2009
    Posts: 12,355

    Hnstray
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Quincy, IL

     
  22. Might have worked with leaded fuel, but normally gas has some oil in it. I never could understand sanding with water on lacquer primer either as the lacquer primer was porous, but we all did it. Never heard of the gas thing though. Pat.
     
  23. torchmann
    Joined: Feb 26, 2009
    Posts: 787

    torchmann
    BANNED
    from Omaha, Ne

    I was told this back when I was doing bodywork..."siicon causes fish eye. fish eye eliminator actually adds silicon to the paint so it's the same as what your painting on..."

    well silicon in the base like from using armorall would cause fisheye but ..
    I remember when one of the owners got run out by the other 2 owners because they didn't think he was holding up his end, all the paint jobs fisheyed like rain on rainex a week later.

    after some scientific analysis by the chemical manufacturers (we documented their product going haywire) It was found out a significant amount of tranny fluid had been added to the sealer.
    The compressor went down and it has brake fluid in the oil.
    bad
     
  24. indy rat rodder
    Joined: Nov 11, 2009
    Posts: 30

    indy rat rodder
    Member

    The second car I ever did body work on was 25 years ago.I was 16. The car was a 56 Crown.The fella the car belonged to was probably 70. He told me to only use white gas on it when I wet sanded.I asked my dad if he was kidding. He said no.So I did . My dad said I was never done wet sanding unless my hands bleed.Boy did that gas sting.The smell wasn't that bad.It really does work but I never did it again.Water works just as well.With alot less sting.
     
  25. Well you know how nuts those Greeks can be......

    Rat
     
  26. outlaw1949
    Joined: Oct 8, 2009
    Posts: 507

    outlaw1949
    Member


    Funny:D
     
  27. KrisKustomPaint
    Joined: Apr 20, 2007
    Posts: 1,107

    KrisKustomPaint
    Member

    make sure to light a cigarette before you start
     
  28. steel rebel
    Joined: Jun 14, 2006
    Posts: 3,604

    steel rebel
    Member Emeritus

    Last year at a swap at Cal. State Hayward I ran into Phil Linhares and a friend selling some leftover parts from one of their builds. Phil is the curator of the Oakland museum and he is responsible for the great hot rod display there a few years back. His friend was introduced to me as (sorry I can't remember his name) an Oakland dentist. He said he was the Greeks dentist the later part of Tommys life. Of course Greek stories started being kicked around and he mentioned that Tommy said that he had used gasoline to thin paint in his early years.

    This story might be coming together. As I have said before Tommy did cheap paint jobs for his bread and butter. This old P.U. was probably one of those jobs. Maybe $40-$50. Remember this '50s $. Equivelent of maybe $400-500 today. Tommy had my friend Steve start to gas sand the old truck with 250 sandpaper while he hunted through his leftover paint to find a mix that would be acceptable. Then I wonder if he didn't thin that paint with gas so any leftover gas from Steves sanding would blend right into the paint. As I remember Steves story the last thing Tommy told him that evening was we won't know how good this paint job will look until
    tomorrow. Steve didn't say how good or bad it did look.
     
  29. Benzene, carcinogen!
    A small gasoline amount can expose you to 3,000 ppm of benzene. The limit is 5 PEL over a 15 minute weighted period. That's 600 times higher.
     
  30. Tom davison
    Joined: Mar 15, 2008
    Posts: 6,042

    Tom davison
    Member
    from Phoenix AZ

    It's interesting to note that if it's such a superior method, why is no one doing it now?
     

Share This Page

Register now to get rid of these ads!

Archive

Copyright © 1995-2021 The Jalopy Journal: Steal our stuff, we'll kick your teeth in. Terms of Service. Privacy Policy.

Atomic Industry
Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2014 XenForo Ltd.