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by superbatfish 2974 days ago
This stuff is the active ingredient in glass "etching cream". Amazingly, many DIY craft videos on YouTube demonstrate it WITHOUT USING GLOVES!
2 comments

Yep, I've seen these videos before and am aghast at how nonchalantly they work with nasty stuff.

Me - I use PPE when working with pretty much any solvent or etchant. And that includes gloves and goggles at a minimum. And if the stuff is not nice, I'm using a stick of sorts to apply (wood, metal, glass; whichever's less reactive).

And if I were dealing with things like HF, you can bet your ass that I'm building some sort of automated setup. HF spattering on a webcam lens means a loss of $50. HF spattering on me means I possibly will die or suffer horrendously. Same with lasers as well. Telepresence is so much safer, and failure means a few hundred dollars of equipment replacement.

Armour Etch doesn't have HF, but it does have other fluorides https://www.msdsdigital.com/armour-etch-glass-etchant-msds
That's interesting. Thanks very much for the correction, and the link!