Perplexing Black Dust ???

[Redbirdman 7]

I have been working the last few days just cleaning the garage and garage cabinets.

In one cabinet I keep all my saws; A Stil chop saw, a miter saw, two 7" Skil saws and a very old aluminum (or white metal?)electric jig saw.....I noticed a big pile of what looked like black dust like what you would get after sawing up old tires. It covered the jig saw and was sprinkled below the miter saw. When you touched it it would smudge just like coal tar. I was baffled where it came from since I can't remember cutting any tires up? When I picked up the jig saw I noticed it actually dissolved the metal to what looked like black rust. It even ate some of the aluminum on my good miter saw. I wore rubber gloves and swept the whole cabinet out with a wet chlorox rag and disposed of everything (rags and trash) in a sealed plastic bag. Ironically, in the same cabinet I kept a spray bottle of "MOLD AWAY" leftover from New Jersey that I used in the damp basement when I lived back there. I sprayed everything with that and let it all dry in the sun. I wrapped the jig saw in double plastic and put in shed. I never saw a mold that could eat aluminum. If it was really mold or just aluminum going bad in the heat???? It was under the miter saw stand too, and that had a lot of sawdust stuck there. (from projects back in Jersey). I also wonder if it came from that wood dust. It did not eat cardboard or wood, but actually dissolved the metal on the jig saw. I sure hope its not some stacky botrus virus or something. And I sure don't want to get it around my aluminum airplane,

Any Ideas?

ED

[stevasaurus 22,230]

If you have a sample of it, you should be able to send it to one of the universities out there to be analyzed. Call them first and they will be more than happy to help you out.

[DoctorHfuhruhurr 132]

There's a fungus that eats Compact Disks and also aluminum.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1402533.stm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17854471

[varosd 1,185]

it sure aint "Pixiedust" you were smart to treat it a hazmat!