Procuring Xylene without suspicion?

[Tong1]

Hi, swim was planning to purchase some xylene, but where he lives making such a request evokes suspicion Just wondered if any other lab rats had contrived convincing cover stories? Swim thanks all!

[gplant]

it is used as a paint thinner plain and simple

[MLO]

Hmm, never heard of xylene... wikipedia says it is produced from petroleum.. maybe someone could google it and find a safe way to maybe extract xylene from petroleum? Maybe petroleum is easier to get than xylene.

What is xylene for?

[hh339]

This should be very easy to get. Stan gets his at a local paint shop. He told them that he uses it to dissolve fats and oils on dirty surfaces. No problem...

[PsillyFunGuy]

Swim said he Found his on the paint isle at lowes hardware (It was labeled as 'Xylol', and it was right next to the paint stripper products and conveniently, HCL), and that no one asked any questions there. However, He believes most of the cashiers wouldn't second guess being told that it was being used as parts cleaner. Tell SWIY not to forget to pay with cash.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good call

[mr_rambo]

Xylol/Xylene is commonly found in stores like Ace (best), Lowes, or Home Depot (not always). I would stay away from small family-type paint stores if you are worrying about suspicion... but honestly cashiers at 99% of the places don't give a fuck what you buy. I'd imagine xylene could be found most anywhere, trying to make xylene would be an incredibly stupid idea.

[syntelman]

Yes.
The only reason suspicion might be raised if is someone dresses up like a bum looking for some solvents to huff.

Most paint/hardware stores in most countries should carry this or any other equivalent solvent such as toluene (almost always interchangeable) with no questions asked.

However I would recommend looking for diethyl ether instead if someone is interested in doing extractions as it is very much more volatile than both toluene and xylene (which can be a pain in the ass to remove without proper equipment). Also fumes from all these solvents will get someone high, but the ethereal ones aren't especially toxic or damaging so be careful with ventilation if using anything else.

[thrackelsby]

Honestly, the cashiers don't give a flying fuck about what you buy, they are only interested in getting you past them and getting out of their lives.

[mr_rambo]

What is so hard about removing toluene or xylene? If it is in an aqueous solution then freeze it and pour off the volatiles... Or if you have your product dissolved in it then put it in the fume hood or under vacuum and heat. Lacking any equip then outdoors for a few hours, etc.

What is the great benefit to using diethyl ether? Is it easily available anywhere in the country for $15 a gallon like toluene or xylene? Theres always going to be better methods and better equipment and better materials but sometimes whats better is whats always within reach.

[syntelman]

Of course if you have access to a real laboratory fitted with a fume hood toluene/xylene (or worse solvents) doesn't cause any problems at all. But not all people have that or the possibility to place a jar/dish of solvent outside and wait for it to evaporate.

The great benefit of diethyl ether is that it is very volatile and evaporates much faster than either toluene or xylene, and the fact that it's fumes isn't very degenerate to your brain so you don't have to go on a vacation while it does.

But sure, if you can't get it then there really is no alternative. I'm just more concerned about health issues than laziness and or saving a few bucks (ether isn't really that expensive anyway).