Hi,

I just bought a new kit from Estes, (Outlaw) and put it together last night. Good times.

Just in learning about rocketry though, i've come across discussion of asbestos.

As a former heaver smoker, I'm really trying to avoide additional risks, and I'm wondering if modern wadding (like from the new kit I bought yesterday) would contain asbestos?

Could someone let me know? Thanks!

There is no asbestos in wadding. Could you imagine the lawsuits if there was?

There hasn't been asbestos in wadding since the early 60s. The current Estes stuff is flameproofed Charmin. Quest uses parade float decorating tissue that is already flameproofed. other common wadding materials (crepe, dog barf, fiberglass, etc) are all asbestos free. I don't think it's legal to put asbestos in anything any more.

No asbestos in any currently produced wadding....probably has been none since the 60's.

Not true that it's illegal to put asbestos in anything, but it's use has been SEVERELY limited, like that of the useful, but inappropriately maligned, pesticide DDT.

I'm pretty sure that 99.9% of asbestos is used in military applications, and as a whole about .1% of what used to contain asbestos now does.

Some things just have no decent substitute for them; like lead in aviation AV100LL gasoline.

__________________
When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

Hey guys,

Thanks for putting my mind at ease. I'm looking forward to a little 3-2-1 this weekend!

Cheers,

Mike

You *will* want to keep away from the exhaust cloud from most composit motors as it is quite an irritating choke-fest.

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-Fred Shecter NAR 20117 (L2)
Southern California Rocket Association, NAR Section 430

Good for you, Mike. How long on the wagon?

Next week will mark 6 years cig-free/nicotine-free for me. Hoo-rah!

Doug

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YORF member #11

Actually, Fred, it's great for clearing my congested sinuses!

Good for you!

I have been smoke free for 28 years now after having smoked for 20 years before that.

At the time that I quit, cigarettes were accepted in the workplace and in all public buildings so I was subject to temptation everywhere but the price had just gone up to 70 cents a pack and I didn't want to pay that high price for something that was just making me cough all the time..

From what I remember being told (more than 25 years ago) it is some type of borax solution that the wadding material (toilet paper) is treated with so that it will not hold a flame.