Alcohol

[Jack Wood]

Just a question that has been on my mind lately as I have beeen using the alcohol drying method for my turning projects. What makes "denatured Alcohol" "denatured" and is there "natured" alcohol?:rolleyes: Not have to know info but then that's the way my brain works:D THANKS!

[Russ Filtz]

Denatured starts out as natured I believe. Additives are used to make it non-drinkable. This avoids all sorts of taxes, etc. I think there was a thread on this long ago (might have been part of a shellac thread). You can use natured as a solvent, it's just more costly. When I was shellac'ing my son's crib, I used shellac flake dissolved in Everclear pure-grain alcohol. I didn't want any toxics left after the alcohol dried off.

I think the old thread stated that pretty much every manufacturer has their own recipe for de-natured, so you never really know what's in there unless you check the MSDS. So if you're turning baby rattles or similar, I would NOT use denatured!

[Jason Roehl]

The denaturing is usually taking pure ethyl alcohol, ethanol for short (Everclear is the "drinkable" form) and mixing in some methyl alcohol, or methanol, typically 3-10%. The methanol renders it poisonous, and exempt it from liquor tax, so that it can be sold for $10/gal at the borg, instead of about $30/gal at the liquor store. Anywhere that you need denatured alcohol as a solvent, you could use pure ethanol, but it would be more expensive and would probably not gain you any clear advantage.

[Dennis Peacock]

Looks like Russ and Jason have you in good order here Jack.

BTW, thanks for the nice visit Saturday in your shop and home. Ain't nuttin' as great as meeting a fellow ww'er in his own shop. You're a great guy with a great family and home. Thank you for your hospitality.

[Jack Wood]

Thank you Dennis! It really was nice to meet you and your sons. My house is open to you anytime your in town! The tips you gave me have already improved my turnings! I wish that you were closer so I could get some more free lessons:D Have a great 4th! AND Happy B'day to your daughter!

[Dennis Peacock]

I wish that you were closer so I could get some more free lessons:D Have a great 4th! AND Happy B'day to your daughter!

Jack,

The pleasure was all mine. If you're in town during the week of Thanksgiving, we'll get together then and we'll go over some more stuff on turning. I'm not afraid to share what I have learned and my hope is to always help others reduce the learning curve and help each other improve on our skills no matter what they are. :D We can always learn something new from every woodworker we meet and that's what makes this hobby so great!!! It's the PEOPLE that make this hobby so fun. ;) :D

[Peter Stahl]

Just a question that has been on my mind lately as I have beeen using the alcohol drying method for my turning projects. What makes "denatured Alcohol" "denatured" and is there "natured" alcohol?:rolleyes: Not have to know info but then that's the way my brain works:D THANKS!

At work our denatured used to be called 2B Alcohol because they put 2% benzene in it. When Benzene was put on the carcinogen list they switched the Benzene with Toluene. Guess it depends on who and where you buy it from as to how they make it undrinkable.