Chemicals in small quantities

As a private conservator I frequently find myself in need of small
quantities of chemicals for specific treatments or analytical work.
Inevitably I wind up having to purchase large quantities of a
chemical at great expense from a large chemical supplier.  For
example, I might need a few milliliters of dilute acid for a
microchemical test, but find myself flummoxed and frustrated by
having to purchase 18M concentrated HCl in the standard massive
glass bottle.  Needless to say, I don't want to have to store such a
dangerous chemical, nor have to pay for such a preposterous
quantity.  I need to purchase some silver nitrate soon in order to
carry out some soluble salt testing, but again, the price is quite
prohibitive and I don't need enough to make the purchase worth it.

I was wondering if there are a group of private conservators who
might be interested in "trading chemicals" or in finding some way to
get around this problem which I'm sure many conservators have.  The
additional problem of having to pay high hazmat and shipping fees
can make the purchasing of chemicals truly prohibitive.  Right now I
have two large containers of EDTA, which I almost never use, as well
as a number of other chemicals I had to purchase in bulk a couple of
years ago. I'd like to sell them to another conservator at a reduced
price, or exchange them for something I do need.

Any thoughts from the community about this problem?  Wondering if we
could set up some kind of online "craigslist" exchange program or a
central storehouse where conservators could send unused chemicals as
donations to other conservators.  I don't know how this could be
done, and done safely and in accordance with federal laws regarding
the shipping of chemicals, but if such a program could be set up,
even informally, it could save the community quite a bit of money.

Perhaps the DistList would be open to having conservators submit
lists of chemicals that they no longer need or have a surplus of to
post to the list.  Then if there are others in need of one or more,
the lister could be contacted directly by email or phone.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:42
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 8, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-24-42-026
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