Cynthia White
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Well, I learned today that denatured alcohol is not so easy to find here in Canada. So I'm hoping for some alcohol advice. I want to buy denatured alcohol for shellac.
Apparently I can get Methanol pretty cheaply. About $3-4 per liter. For the sake of discussion, a quart is close to a liter, if you're used to imperial. As most of you know, methanol is a deadly poison.
I can get Isopropyl Alcohol for about $6-8 per liter. Also poisonous, and it's usually cut with about 20-30% water.
I can get Denatured Alcohol, known around here as DNA, special-ordered from my pharmacy. But it's about $20 per liter. Now many of you know that DNA is really Ethyl Alcohol (the kind you drink) that's had poison added to it so people won't drink it, and so it won't be taxed to death. In Europe they add a dye to it too.
The fact is I can buy real Ethyl Alcohol at the liquor store. Cheap vodka would be less than $20/liter, and I could probably find something a lot cheaper than that if I don't mind a little color to it.
So I'd like to know if any of the experts here have tried more than one of these and what their experiences were. Dave Hawksford are you listening? If ethyl alcohol is important, then I'll just head over to the liquor store rather than order DNA at the pharmacy. If it really doesn't matter at all, then methanol is cheap and easy to find. As the chemists among us know, all these alcohols are not the same. They are different molecularly, have different flash points, etc. etc., so I'd be amazed if they all work identically with wood and shellac.
I'm all ears, and thanks to any and all replies.
Apparently I can get Methanol pretty cheaply. About $3-4 per liter. For the sake of discussion, a quart is close to a liter, if you're used to imperial. As most of you know, methanol is a deadly poison.
I can get Isopropyl Alcohol for about $6-8 per liter. Also poisonous, and it's usually cut with about 20-30% water.
I can get Denatured Alcohol, known around here as DNA, special-ordered from my pharmacy. But it's about $20 per liter. Now many of you know that DNA is really Ethyl Alcohol (the kind you drink) that's had poison added to it so people won't drink it, and so it won't be taxed to death. In Europe they add a dye to it too.
The fact is I can buy real Ethyl Alcohol at the liquor store. Cheap vodka would be less than $20/liter, and I could probably find something a lot cheaper than that if I don't mind a little color to it.
So I'd like to know if any of the experts here have tried more than one of these and what their experiences were. Dave Hawksford are you listening? If ethyl alcohol is important, then I'll just head over to the liquor store rather than order DNA at the pharmacy. If it really doesn't matter at all, then methanol is cheap and easy to find. As the chemists among us know, all these alcohols are not the same. They are different molecularly, have different flash points, etc. etc., so I'd be amazed if they all work identically with wood and shellac.
I'm all ears, and thanks to any and all replies.
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