HEXAMINE. PLEASE READ!

[demented dale]

I am so glad someone else said this because we got a litre bottle delivered last month.
Himself has been 'into' electronics for over fifty years, and acetone and ipa are standard cleaning chemicals.

Now we need to ask for a licence ?? and pay £39.50 for them to decide yeah or nay ?

Not best pleased, tbh.

The first thing to check with anything like this is the source. ie; is it true? it may or not be but the amount of misinformation floating around about anything merits personal research. Keeping with the misinformation theme and including bush craft there are some videos called bush craft bull s... on line that dispel some of the myths people promote. Paul Kirtley also makes a point of asking his guests on his podcast to do the same..

 

[demented dale]

The first thing to check with anything like this is the source. ie; is it true? it may or not be but the amount of misinformation floating around about anything merits personal research. Keeping with the misinformation theme and including bush craft there are some videos called bush craft bull s... on line that dispel some of the myths people promote. Paul Kirtley also makes a point of asking his guests on his podcast to do do the same..

Acetone: general information

www.gov.uk

Nothing about a licence. Unless of course it is new legislation and site not been updated.

 

[grainweevil]

The acetone thing was a misunderstanding cleared up on page three - in convo within the thread on all the things that could be banned as a source of explosive but weren't, Jared was observing that acetone could easily be one of them.

 

[Ozmundo]

Don’t I know it! As a teenager we used to make our own “fireworks” involving tin cans and even tubing.

I left some mix on a saucer in our cellar and it spontaneously combusted. No damage but the smoke with its distinctive smell was sort of hard to explain to my dad.

My friends and I did this too. No one batted an eyelid at a group of 12 year old boys buying tubs of it from the agricultural supply store.
“What do you want for your birthday lad?” - “Big pestle and mortar please!”

We only blew the doors off one caravan.

 

[Ozmundo]

That’s probably because the idiots coming up with these policies/laws are young people straight out of university, no life experiences, heavily influenced by American policies/ideas working as a think tank for the government. It’s bl**dy atrocious. I just despair of our country at the moment, I honestly think there’s no hope!
Back to the spelling, no one seems to know the correct usage of grammar nowadays, even BBC news readers commit howlers: “he was sat” instead of the correct “he was sitting”……..and the list goes on.

The BBC would probably justify it by being more “diverse” and “representative of a regional identity”. Or some other double speak, it’s an organisation that thinks everyone in the SE is cocker-ney or went to Eton for example.

 

[nigelp]

That’s probably because the idiots coming up with these policies/laws are young people straight out of university, no life experiences, heavily influenced by American policies/ideas working as a think tank for the government. It’s bl**dy atrocious. I just despair of our country at the moment, I honestly think there’s no hope!
Back to the spelling, no one seems to know the correct usage of grammar nowadays, even BBC news readers commit howlers: “he was sat” instead of the correct “he was sitting”……..and the list goes on.

The BBC would probably justify it by being more “diverse” and “representative of a regional identity”. Or some other double speak, it’s an organisation that thinks everyone in the SE is cocker-ney or went to Eton for example.

If it was true. Most of the policy advisers to government are long serving civil servants whom are directed by the former or currant government ministers running that department. Blame the government in charge, they thought it up.

New legislation takes years to draw up and get made into law.

 

[Toddy]

The fellow who passed it into law, Tom Tugendhat.....look that up.

I had never heard of him. Turns out his missus is American (see misspelling of chemicals on that list) and he pushes agendas.

We're not supposed to discuss politics on the forum though.

M

 

[matarius777]

What about steam toys?

Mamod still sell it.

Interesting, I had a Mamod steam engine as a child, the fuel of choice then, was methylated spirits. I think that’s why I always have a vey nostalgic reaction to the smell, that and using it in my first Trangia, hitching across Europe in the 80s.

 

[Danceswithhelicopters]

"No thread started with ALL CAPS ends well."

Browns 1st Law of the Internet

 

[matarius777]

There are whose study is of smells,
And too attentive schools rehearse,
How something mixed with something else,
Makes something worse.

R Kipling.

Listen here my man,
This here poetry should have a ban,
Tis a bushcraft forum we peruse,
This literary flaunt I shan’t excuse,


Oh dear, I’ll take my coat…….I feel such a goat!

 

[stevec]

What I find funny is that they use the UK style "sulphuric acid" and then use the iupac "sulfuric" spelling for everything else. At least be consistent. personally I think it should be "sulfuric acid" as set out by iupac, what I was taught in the late 90's.

 

[Woody girl]

To be honest, the hexamine blocks being banned wouldn't worry me too much.
I have one of the old style army stoves and a pack of hexi blocks stashed away somewhere, but I prefer to use the less toxic green gel, and the newer style stove anyway. It's less toxic so that can't be a bad thing.
I try not to use too many chemicals, preferring more natural solutions for cleaning etc. We have too many forever chemicals in the environment and our bodies anyway, so stopping using them, and replacing with less toxic stuff can only be a good thing ,especially for future generations.
I'm no chemist, and never did chemistry past 2nd yr at senior school, I much preferred biology, so I may be a bit nieve, but i find I get on perfectly well in life, without too much bother, without a shed or cupboard full of tins and bottles with those red x's and warnings plastered all over them.
But what does bother me, is the nanny state interference, and micro management of our lives.
Though that's probably another conversation for another place.

 

[Mesquite]

I've sent the following FoI request to the Home Office to clear up any confusion around this.

Dear Sir/Madam.
I would like to make a Freedom of Information request regarding The Control of Poisons and Explosives Precursors Regulations 2023.

In the above regulations it lists hexamine as being regulated at any concentration and that a licence is required to hold and use any regulated chemical. Hexamine is used extensively to manufacture fuel tablets which are used to provide a heat source to cook meals when camping or to power model steam engines and other similar uses.

Looking at the Poisons act 1972, specifically paragraph 2, (9) b , it states the following:
9)For the purposes of this section, a substance or mixture is “excluded” if—
(a)it is medicinal, or
(b)it is contained in a specific object.
Section 11 defines a specific object is defined as:
11)A “specific object” is—
(a)an object that, during production, is given a special shape, surface or design that determines its function to a greater degree than does its chemical composition, or
(b)an article that contains explosive substances or an explosive mixture of substances designed to produce heat, light, sound, gas or smoke or a combination of such effects through self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions, including—
(i)pyrotechnic equipment falling within the scope of Council Directive 96/98/EC on marine equipment, and
(ii)percussion caps intended specifically for toys falling within the scope of Council Directive 88/378/EEC concerning the safety of toys.

Could you please advise me that, after looking at the Poisons Act 1972, hexamine fuel tablets or similar products could be regarded as a specific object that produces heat through an exothermic reaction, and would therefore be excluded from The Control of Poisons and Explosives Precursors Regulations 2023 and a person would not have to have a licence to purchase, hold or use them.

I am happy for you to answer my question by responding to this email.

Many thanks

 

[Woody girl]

Well done that man! Instead of speculation, obtain the true facts from a reputable source, and then see if we need to get undies in a twist or not.
Perhaps if they had to reply to dozens of letters asking the same thing....?
There are dozens of us here, copy and send.!

 

[Broch]

TBH, I don't really care about Hexamine; there are alternatives available. It's some of the other stuff that will cause me problems

 

[Toddy]

Salt is 'chemical', so is vinegar.
So is the calcium sulphate and magnesium chloride, that I use to make tofu.
So is bleach, so is meths, and so is battery acid.

So is the borax and oxalic acid used in laundry as are Calcium chloride and Calcium hypochlorite.....the Calcium chloride is also used to de-ice paths.

So is lime mortar.....roast flint and it changes 'chemically' and gives off a lot of heat as it does so....do we ban flint ? because it can be used exothermically....but wait a minute, so does linseed oil on a cloth.

Sodium bicarbonate is baking soda, while sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide is called sugar soap.....in north America they use trisodium phosphate and sugar soap is used to clean faces.

So, the chemical bit really, really matters.

 

[ESpy]

Salt is 'chemical', so is vinegar.
So is the calcium sulphate and magnesium chloride, that I use to make tofu.
So is bleach, so is meths, and so is battery acid.

...

Sodium bicarbonate is baking soda, while sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide is called sugar soap.....in north America they use trisodium phosphate and sugar soap is used to clean faces.

One of my red rags to a bull (or triggers, I guess) is when someone decries chemicals...

Sodium carbonate - or soda crystals - I use in making noodles in the absence of a source for kansui. Granted, I decompose sodium bicarbonate in the oven rather than use the green bag that lives under the sink (great for sorting out the fat fryer unless I resort to full-on caustic soda) but it's more-or-less the same. Lye water is used in some Chinese cooking as well as bagel making. Again, I'd go for food grade rather than the bulk agri stuff I usually use.

TSP isn't the easiest thing to get in the UK, I had to go to (IIRC) APC to get some for making up a batch of firescale preventative.

 

[Tantalus]

Did we get to the stage of looking up the "Ban Dihydrous Oxide" page yet?

 

[Pattree]

It is banned from my whisky glass for sure!

 

[Toddy]

The solid state is rather refreshing added to juice though.