Acetic acid and Butyric acid. Used for those clear tool handles. [1][2] It gets nastier once you realize you are smelling the odor of vomit with hints of vinegar.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_acid

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose_acetate

Thanks so much for that! I've been wondering for years what that unique smell (from various clear-handled Newtonian tools) was.

I guess it's used where clear or somewhat- clear plastic is used. But does BPA have the same smell over time?

No worse then a Hershey's chocolate bar...

For anyone unfamiliar with the connection, Hershey's milk chocolate is made with a process that produces butyric acid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_bar

it isn't that. my dad worked in biochemistry and that's what i'm talking about.

my shitty screwdrivers have the smell you're talking about.

My mistake -- I was thinking of a Newtonian work bench. :-)

Maybe. To me it had a very "industrial-fish" smell is the best way I can put it. Not fishy like Thai fish oil, but maybe like an ocean oil spill site puréed, baked in the sun and concentrated? I remember it provoked a visceral reaction to not smell it more.

that sounds like thiolacetic acid, or posibly triflic acid (trifluoromethanesulfonic acid).