Stuff you can't buy anymore


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First it was creosote, now I've found I can't buy proper carbolic soap (aka coal tar). Europe poking its nose in again methinks, something to do with carcinogens. I've been soaked with the former and used many bars of the latter and I'm not dead yet.

Oh and no more sodium chlorate in case it's mixed with sugar to make you know what.

What else are we not allowed to buy for our own good?

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I once knew a bloke who used hemp for his joints, he wasn't a plumber though.

Yes i was Tapering my threads the other day,and thought 'Crikey' if only i had some 'Boss blue' round me 'Plumbing joints' twud make the job much more enjoyable,............i sighed and just 'Soldered

Always lead to believe that British Standard Pipe (BSP) is a thread size not a spanner size, A lot of electrical and model stuff is In British Assiciation (BA) size and British Standard Fine (BSF) and

Creosotes no longer available stateside either, treated wood isn't treated with arsenic anymore either, it's now a copper based preservative.

Over here it's hard to buy ammonium nitrate fertiliser, none of the local farm suppliers will sell less than a truck load, no good if all you need is a few pounds for the garden. Frightened we might mix some diesel with it...LOL

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You'll find Wright's Coal Tar soap is just fragranced nowadays. In the old days, carbolic acid (phenol) was extracted from coal tar and used in soap among other things (any pitters will recall PHB soap). An EU Directive stopped the use of phenol in soaps, cosmetics, etc. but allowed it to be used in medicines (hence you'll find it in Germolene for instance). Anyone determined to get the real carbolic deal should look to Jamaican shops but even then you have to check for ingredients. It's generally pinky-red in colour.

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From a HSE webpage: EC Decision 2008/865/EC for sodium chlorate was published on 10 November 2008. The dates for withdrawal of plant protection products containing sodium chlorate are given in Regulatory Update 05/2009.

Would explain why it's not generally available for domestic use but there are exceptions, hence it can still be sourced.

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Where horticultural products are concerned, quite often they are still on sale but are not allowed to be sold for their original purpose. An example is the wonderful product Armillatox. Because the company who manufacture it couldn't afford the costs of the new testing regimes they stopped selling it as a fungicide. It's still available in it's original form as a patio cleaner which doesn;t require the same testing level.

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I was informed by a chemist that Saltpetre is now a controlled substance..I informed him that Napoleon had buckets of straw at the sides of the road for his soldiers to piss in. After a few hot days saltpetre naturally accumulated on the buckets.

This is the world we live in, where a substance is controlled...but you can bypass the law by pissing in a bucket... :yahoo:

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Probably frightened of everyone making gunpowder??? Saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal.

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Home Ales Beer, Shipstone's Beer, Kimberly Beer, and Whitbread Tanked.

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you can buy dates at Morrisons

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