Denatured Alcohol UPDATE

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. :D

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. :wave: :)
 
Last edited:
have you checked with your local hardware place cynthia ,,DNA isnt that big of a problem solvent..and our home depots carry it as well as most hardwares..
 
14 bucks a gallon here and every hardware store has it on the shelf. Even Walmarts stocks it. I guess there are some perks to living in the US.:thumb:
 
have you checked with your local hardware place cynthia ,,DNA isnt that big of a problem solvent..and our home depots carry it as well as most hardwares..

Yeah, I went to my favorite island place, Slegg Lumber, this morning. And I checked with HD, and Canadian Tire, other borgs here. Yes, we have no bananas. Methanol only.

I forgot to mention that with methanol you have to wear a respirator...don't know about the others. Also there's marine stove alcohol available cheap which is Isobutyl Alcohol, yet another type. It's about the same price as methanol.

When I went to college in Tennessee we used to get pure grain alcohol (cheap) and make some delightful punch with it. :rofl: :rofl: I don't know if you can buy it up here. I wonder if people make rotgut up here......
 
I have been tossing the idea around of building a small Kiln. One I was looking into was the Logosol, a small unit that dries about 700 bd ft at a whack. The control unit was under a grand, and you had to build your own enclosure.

Maybe if you are into odd wood, and have a local with a band mill that would be an option that would be fun as well. I know I am looking forward to having that potential. But of course I want bigger than I can afford.......

:huh::dunno:
I think someones been drinking the spirits...:rolleyes::D:rofl:
 
Last edited:
I use Isopropyl Alcohol 99% pure purchased at a farmer supply general store. It's used by vets and farmers to sterilize cuts/wounds etc. on their livestock as well as cleaning the teats of milking cows. $20.00/4 litre.

Poisonous to drink, yes; but as I understand, it does not ingest to your body as methyl hydrate (methanol) does. As well, it will dissolve shellac flakes at a slower rate than some other alcohols.

Not knowing your particular use for it, I'm not certain how much more to answer for you!
 
Cynthia look for Methyl Hydrate, which is another name for Methanol or wood alcohol. I've been using it for years and have never used a respirator. Maybe that's why I see four of everything. Methyl Hydrate is real cheap and sold pretty much everywhere.
Why don't you just buy some premixed shellac. It's available in a spray bomb as well in various cuts right down to a thinned out sealer. Bullseye is the maker. I know that in Victoria a lot of the paint stores don't sell it and if they do only it in gallon sizes. The best place around here to get it is Lumber World. They stock it in pints, liters, gallons and spray bombs and in various cuts. Keep in mind that Shellac has a shelf life and can reach a state where it will not set properly and will remain sticky. This usually isn't a problem as shellac has so many uses in a shop.

As for pure grain alcohol you could get 100% pure alcohol out of the Chem. Lab when I was in university here if you were sneaky enough. I remember putting a drop in my mouth and it instantly peeled the skin off the roof of my mouth. I spat it out and I think it evaporated before it hit the ground. Cut it enough and mix it with fruit syrups and it made a pretty good drink. At least I think it did. I don't remember much of the sixties.
 
I came here to say this. Can you find methylated spirits locally Cynthia?

Not easily. That's the same thing as DNA. Like I said I can order it through the pharmacy for about $20/liter.

Thanks Mack and Brian. Yeah, the isopropyl alcohol is much cheaper than the DNA I can get here. Mack I want it for dissolving shellac flakes. Brian I don't have as much variety available to me up here, but I'll take a look next time I'm in Victoria. Sounds like Isopropyl is the way to go. Yeah, methanol can be absorbed through the skin as well as toxic to breathe.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Well Cynthia you aint the first Canadian woodworker wanting DNA and not being able to buy it.

I went through the whole process a year or so back. Turns out because the DNA is actually grain alcohol our gov being he kind that looks after us and decides if we can or cannot do things, thinks we might get stuck into drinking it. So we dont get it allowed. If you jump through hoops ect you can get a few drops as you found out but be sure they will be checking on you and you will have to pay a pretty penny for it as you discovered.

The easy way to solve the problem is cross the border and shop at home depot and drive back with a gallon.:D:D:D:D;)

Its the same as the paste wax the US guys are always talking about. For some unknown reason i aint been able to find what i call floor polish in a can in Canada. Yes we can get the minwax versions etc but not the johnson wax. So home depot USA on a shopping trip.

Guess someone thinks the beer store and the lcbo might loose out on sales if we get dna and the health system will be slaughtered with patients.:rofl::rofl:
 
Judging from the prices Cynthia is quoting, I'm guessing the savings alone will pay for the gas for the drive... :huh:
 
Well Cynthia you aint the first Canadian woodworker wanting DNA and not being able to buy it.

I went through the whole process a year or so back. Turns out because the DNA is actually grain alcohol our gov being he kind that looks after us and decides if we can or cannot do things, thinks we might get stuck into drinking it. So we dont get it allowed. If you jump through hoops ect you can get a few drops as you found out but be sure they will be checking on you and you will have to pay a pretty penny for it as you discovered.

The easy way to solve the problem is cross the border and shop at home depot and drive back with a gallon.:D:D:D:D;)

Its the same as the paste wax the US guys are always talking about. For some unknown reason i aint been able to find what i call floor polish in a can in Canada. Yes we can get the minwax versions etc but not the johnson wax. So home depot USA on a shopping trip.

Guess someone thinks the beer store and the lcbo might loose out on sales if we get dna and the health system will be slaughtered with patients.:rofl::rofl:

I have to say, Rob, that makes no sense to me. DNA by definition has poison added to it so if you drink it you die or wish you did. That's not much different from ingesting the other types of alcohol that *are* available. But I do know from experience that some things are available here that aren't available there and vice versa....

well my next visitor from stateside gets to come with a suitcase full of it, Brent. You could bring me some on your little Tour de Wood? ;o)
 
Last edited:
Cynthia,

At the Homedepot at RICHMOND
2700 Sweden Way
Richmond, BC V6V 2W8
(604) 303-9882
STORE HOURS
M-F 7AM-10PM
SAT 7AM-8PM
SUN 8AM-8PM

(looks like could be the closest to you once off the ferry)

They have Methyl Hydrate - 3.78 L for 10.29. Yep, I know this is not what you want...


I also found that there is Denatured alcohol available to you,

"Steveston Marine just off Granville Island. They now stock something called Captain PHAB Marine Alcohol, from a Peterborough Ontario company, Captain PHAB.
It sells for $19.99 for a 4 litre bottle (that’s 1.14 gallons) and it’s a 90-10 mix (Ethanol and whatever they use to make it undrinkable). The staffer told me that one of the reasons denatured alcohol has been hard to find is that one of the main suppliers either went out of business or stopped carrying it."

This was from a blog about 8 months ago. That's not that bad of a price either. About 5 more than what I pay at my local homedepot but a lot cheaper than round trip gas to the states! You may even be able to have it ordered in locally so you don't have to run into Vancouver!

Hope that helps a little bit!


Brian
 
Top