I started my working life in a cadetship in production and chemical engineering with Dunlop Australia in the early sixties and HF and it's derivitives were in the arsenal of materials that were used in our lab. The precautions taken for w.h.a.s. were as great as for phosgene which is a reaction product of chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents and burning polymers.
With the knowlege of the dangers of HF and it's derivatives that I gained in that period of my training I have deemed it the smartest move to just avoid the use of HF and derivatives even when the economics would suggest a compromise. The precautions available in a superbly equipped laboratory far surpass anything the casual home user can effect, so my advice would be to just keep as far from HF as possible Terry
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