DNA storage/ evaporation

My wife and I stopped by the gallery today while downtown. While there, I noticed one of my largest bowls was gone off the shelf; a spalted maple bowl about 18" diameter. Turns out it sold on this black Friday.

I also noticed that the gallery had taken my small "calabash collection" of three different size/woods calabash bowls and moved them from near the register area, to the shelf unit where most of my turnings are displayed.

Sales have been decent in recent weeks, so I told my wife that I need to get busy replacing the items sold, as I don't like thin looking shelves.

Got home from errands and headed to the shop, where I had an ash bowl on the lathe, being worked on. Began to finish turn the thing, and wouldn't you know it, a chunk of it broke out near the rim where the pit would have been if it had been left on the blank [it wasn't]

So I chucked up a piece of cherry to make a natural edge bowl, and roughed it out. Went to the back side of the lathe to get my 5 gallon bucket of denatured alcohol for a DNA soak to speed the drying process. [haven't used it in over a year and had about 3 gallons in it last time I soaked something in it.

The bucket lid has a rubber seal, and it is one of those Lowes silver colored 5 gal. buckets.
Well, the thing was almost completely empty...only a smidgen in the bottom! I guess that DNA evaporates more quickly than I ever thought!

Anyone else experienced DNA just evaporating away like that? Any suggestions on a better way to store it when not in use? That stuff gets a bit pricey!

Your bucket must not have been sealed. I use a great deal of DNA at work and it does not evaporate when stored properly. Try a lined, steel bucket.

I had the same evaporation issue when I used the same lowes bucket! I changed out to a "proper" 5 gallon paint bucket (much thicker plastic and a tight lid made specifically for the bucket) and it works much better. The evaporative loss is much less with these buckets. I'd say near zero loss, actually...

i debated buying one of those screw top dog food containers if the paint bucket failed, but I didn't have to. Those dog food containers have a gasket in addition to the screw top so I think they might be very good at keeping things air tight.

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Originally Posted by Roger Chandler

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Anyone else experienced DNA just evaporating away like that? Any suggestions on a better way to store it when not in use? That stuff gets a bit pricey!

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Roger,

I don't know why but once when I asked about getting DNA in plastic containers instead of metal I was told the container needed to be metal. The spokesman didn't say why.

Is that true? Is there a good reason? (besides the fire hazard issue?)

As for the expense, if you belong to a turning club do others use DNA? When I went to one club recently to do a demo a gentleman had a 55gal drum of denatured alcohol in his truck. He said he got 100 gallons to share with the club, said it was cheaper that way. Perhaps an option.

JKJ

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Originally Posted by John K Jordan

Roger,

I don't know why but once when I asked about getting DNA in plastic containers instead of metal I was told the container needed to be metal. The spokesman didn't say why.

Is that true? Is there a good reason?

JKJ

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JKJ - my guess is, he didn't say why because there is no reason... denatured alcohol is regularly sold and stored in plastic. Just not in the hardware stores for whatever reason. For laboratories, it is routine. Search for it on amazon and you'll see all manners of plastic bottles full of the stuff. In addition, its commonly stored in plastic by those who camp for long periods and use it for fuel.

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My shop building is unheated in the winter, and gets pretty warm in the summer months. That silver colored bucket from Lowes has a rubber seal in the lid. Do I need to get a metal 5 gallon bucket with a ring lever seal for the lid?

They probably said metal only because of post 9/11 precautions about flammable materials. And that is the reason Everclear is gone from a lot of liquor stores, new rules about the buildings as well as containers .

Somewhat related to the OP, does anyone know if rubbing alcohol will work for soaking green wood?

Jay , I don't know. But it's sold in a number of concentrations. The weak ones might not do much. I don't see how it could hurt anything to try it.

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Originally Posted by Jay Mullins

Somewhat related to the OP, does anyone know if rubbing alcohol will work for soaking green wood?

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It might be safer. I like to look at the MSDS info on chemicals. I see denatured alcohol sold now with seeming increasing amounts of toxic methanol. I checked a brand that Lowes sells - it used to be about 5% methanol but the MSDS I found yesterday indicated it was over 50% methanol.

Rubbing alcohol apparently contains isopropyl or other alcohols already mixed with water, something to consider if you hope it will pull water out of the wood.

JKJ

I don't understand the total concept and it sounded absurd at first, but just as moisture can pass through concrete, alcohol can evaporate through some plastics. I could more easily understand that alcohol might react with some plastics. For that reason, My friction polish is stored in a glass bottle for use. Now Most manufacturers have switched to plastic containers, but some items still come mostly in metal containers. Don't know if that is for fire resistance, or why. So, even though I do not totally buy the alcohol evaporating through a few different plastics, keeping the friction polish in a re-cycled glass soy sauce bottle has worked very well.

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Originally Posted by Perry Hilbert Jr

I don't understand the total concept and it sounded absurd at first, but just as moisture can pass through concrete, alcohol can evaporate through some plastics...

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Plastic can let water through as well and I understand not all plastics of the same type, even HDPE, are created equal. A gentleman from Mercury Adhesives told me they looked hard at this since moisture is a CA killer. (They have an unconditional lifetime warranty on their CA)

BTW, my solution to CA life is to keep the bottles dry: I use indicator desiccant in a sealed container. The desiccant turns from blue to pink when it needs to be recharged. This is an earlier version - I later found a better container at Walmart.

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JKJ

Alcohol stored in a metal container will likely cause the container to rust. A plastic bucket that had paint or drywall in it is probably a better choice . The plastic used should be engineered to keep evaporation to a minimum.

The steel pails I have used are epoxy or phenolic resin lined. The metal hazmat storage vessels we have to use at work are steel. Neither rusts.

The plastic isn't the problem, it's the lid.

I use and have had no trouble with a chlorine bucket with a screw down lid , I think it is around 7.5 gal. in size so it can hold slightly larger pieces.