We have three liquids, all of them volatile. I highly recommend reading the dangers on the labels. Most of these liquids give off fumes that are heavier than air and so should be reduced in a spark or open flame free area. The garage is usually not a good place because of the water heater. Breathing methanol fumes is not a good idea but on the other hand, the amounts we are working with are fairly small, they should be still be respected. If we are refluxing or distilling then we don't want to run out of coolant. I don't like wasting methanol so I distill over a heated stir plate. Choempi comes off as a reasonable and intelligent person, not likely to endanger himself or others with his experiments. We should not be afraid of simple chemicals. I've seen people go out of their way to avoid having to work with lye as though it were some sort of poison. I use it when curing my olives every year, which means I actually eat (admittedly) reacted lye, so it isn't really a poison.
On the other hand, I recently read of a case where two guys did a butane oil extraction in a closed hotel room. Now I had thought that any fool would realize that one does not release a flamable gas into a closed room and strike a match. These folks were extraordinary in their foolishness and burned down most of the hotel - and their face, shirts, hair and eyebrows.
Unless your so stupid you want to snort it as coke your pretty much okay with a clean workspace, plenty of time and commonsense. Nuff said!
