kench Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 I bought some shellac flakes yesterday. Both light and dark colored. I know they should be dissolved in "denature alcohol", but the Denature Alcohol sold here has purple/blue color. It says "Agricultural based Denature Ethyl Alcohol" on the bottle and we call it "ispirto" (like.. spirit). And everyone told me here, that is the only thing I should use to dissolve shellac. And that the other alcohols do not dissolve but "rot" the shellac. Except the guy who sells the shellac. He told me that the light colored shellac flakes should be dissolved in normal alcohol which is colorless (Ethyl Alcohol) and I've seen in a stew-mac tutorial that Dan is using a colorless alcohol referred as "denature" alcohol. I'm a little confused now. Is the denature alcohol sold there has the same purple color too? Or you have colorless denature alcohol there? And does it effect the final color of the shellac? I think not.. because when it evaporates, it doesnt leave any color on the surface. The color evaporates too. Or should I use the Ethyl Alcohol istead of Denatured one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddler68 Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 I don't know a whole lot about shellac, but I bought some recently and was told to only use denatured alcohol. The stuff I bought is colorless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernova9 Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 I bought some shellac flakes yesterday. Both light and dark colored. I know they should be dissolved in "denature alcohol", but the Denature Alcohol sold here has purple/blue color. It says "Agricultural based Denature Ethyl Alcohol" on the bottle and we call it "ispirto" (like.. spirit). And everyone told me here, that is the only thing I should use to dissolve shellac. And that the other alcohols do not dissolve but "rot" the shellac. ← Denatured alcohol - or if you're in UK, Methylated Spirits, is Ethanol (Alcohol as we know it), with a bit of methanol (a very similar chemical) added to it. The purple/blue colour you are talking about is a dye that's added to the mix to indicate that it's not safe to drink. You have the right chemical, but it's dyed. You need to find the same stuff without that safety dye. Whereabouts in the world are you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kench Posted January 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 Denatured alcohol - or if you're in UK, Methylated Spirits, is Ethanol (Alcohol as we know it), with a bit of methanol (a very similar chemical) added to it. The purple/blue colour you are talking about is a dye that's added to the mix to indicate that it's not safe to drink. You have the right chemical, but it's dyed. You need to find the same stuff without that safety dye. Whereabouts in the world are you? ← Yes!.. That's what I've thought.. I already asked few sellers about the source of that color and they told me the same thing. And they also told me I can get rid of that dye by dropping 1 or 2 drops of a certain solvent to 1 litre of that alcohol. (the solvent that is used to pre-wash real dirty laundry and to disfinfect dirty stuff.. and has an extremely disgusting smell... I don't know what it is in English). Then that purple dye would sink to the bottom. But I don't think it is safe for shellac so I'm not planning to try it. Anyway.. I tested some shellac with that alcohol and the results are ok. The purple color evaporates with the alcohol. Maybe it will affect the color of the shellac after some more coats. I will see how much.. maybe it will affect in a good way. Btw. I'm from Turkey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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