Yeah, it was a knee jerk reaction. The mix seems harsh on the wax paper. Once my favorite store opens up, I intend on getting a fresh bottle.
Though, my hopes are to be learning the ropes with Hi-Tek coating sometime this summer.
Safe to Use Denatured Alcohol?
- Thread starter markr6754
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Though, my hopes are to be learning the ropes with Hi-Tek coating sometime this summer.
Spare Parts
Member
ISO-Heet is near-100% isopropyl alcohol. I use it in a 10:1 mixture with 80W gear oil to lube my 5.56 cases. Good stuff to have in the garage. I've never put it in the gas tank.
Since we're on the topic...
Denatured alcohol is good for removing pine sap from painted surfaces (i.e. cars).
As a sanitizer, something like 30%-40% water, 60%+ alcohol is an ideal ratio. It turns out that germs have resistance to pure alcohol - something about the cell walls protect them. Some water in the alcohol allows it to get through the cell walls much more easily and quickly - near instant death.
If I was making my own hand sanitizer, I'd probably use everclear. If you can drink it, it's probably safe to use on skin.
I use isopropyl for diluting lanolin - haven't tried to buy any lately.
Denatured alcohol is good for removing pine sap from painted surfaces (i.e. cars).
As a sanitizer, something like 30%-40% water, 60%+ alcohol is an ideal ratio. It turns out that germs have resistance to pure alcohol - something about the cell walls protect them. Some water in the alcohol allows it to get through the cell walls much more easily and quickly - near instant death.
If I was making my own hand sanitizer, I'd probably use everclear. If you can drink it, it's probably safe to use on skin.
I use isopropyl for diluting lanolin - haven't tried to buy any lately.
Actually, I read a couple of weeks ago that 70% Isopropyl Alcohol is the ideal mixture for killing germs and viruses. Fortunately, the cheapest "rubbing alcohol" you can buy is 70%.
Oderless mineral spirits is a great solvent for cleaning gunpowder soot, built up lube, Alox and just about anything else in the reloading room and it doesn't leave a heavy stink behind like regular mineral spirits. I saw a Youtube video where a guy swears by it for cleaning guns after shooting. The gun still need to be lubed but the mineral spirits cut through all the soot and powder residue.
markr6754
Member
So if I take the bulk of the expert comments....no, do not use it in the reloading room or for hand sanitizer. I had a feeling that’s where things would end. Though no one has suffered harm from it yet, it likely contains gasoline...and no, I wouldn’t use gasoline as a hand sanitizer or a cleaner.
I did read where there is a cosmetic grade of denatured alcohol which is used in household products...but that’s not what I have...so...maybe I’ll make one of those soda can alcohol stoves I saw on YouTube, just in case.
I did read where there is a cosmetic grade of denatured alcohol which is used in household products...but that’s not what I have...so...maybe I’ll make one of those soda can alcohol stoves I saw on YouTube, just in case.
AJC1
Member
The guy you were watching on youtube was gunblue490 and i watch him all the time. He also loves mineral oil for lubrication. Cheap and works good. I still use CLP because i have a lot, but soak all my guns in mineral spirits to clean.
Dudedog
Contributing Member
Last time I had a bottle back when, I would say it is definitely not safe
Edit:
(for drinking)
Last edited:
Jesse Heywood
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Ask any engineer and you will learn that safety is relative. Weighing the odds of disaster. In aircraft design I have used factors of 2:1, 4:1, even as high as 15:1 for crash loads. Use of ethanol for cleaning, I use it regularly. But I would never use a non-approved flashlight in an aircraft fuel tank. Let common sense be your guide. If it makes you uncomfortable, don't do it.Last time I had a bottle back when, I would say it is definitely not safe
CptnAwesome
Member
BINGO!!!! I logged on here specifically to ask about using PGA instead of rubbing alcohol (which I can't find either) and I saw this thread. So PGA should work then?
Obturation
Member
I assume so but I haven't done it. If it doesn't work well you can make some cocktails , that's how I see it. Honestly I believe it would be just fine.
CptnAwesome
Member
I'm thinking the same. I mix alcohol with Lee resizing lube. It works great and lasts a long time. I usually don't even let it evaporate completely before I start sizing.
I would think this would have a similar vaporization rate as rubbing alcohol.
Obturation
Member
Yeah, I pour a glass full and by the time I notice, it's gone. Got super evaporation in this part of the world
Nature Boy
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Yeah, I pour a glass full and by the time I notice, it's gone. Got super evaporation in this part of the world
same thing happened to me the other night. Every glass I poured seem to super evaporate
Strange.....
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Obturation
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Hmmm, whiskey thinned alox. The finest bullets that smell like charred oak, your on to something there, if nothing else you get style points.
Master Blaster
Member
Alcohol, isopropyl will destroy lexan and some other plastics. The will fracture when touched with it.
Catpop
Member
I got a bottle of that on my shop too! Left over from my college days back around 69-
yeah I’m that old!!!!
Dudedog
Contributing Member
Jesse,
I meant the Everclear was not safe to drink.
(it is, but I say that as a joke because I had a bad experience with a bottle in my younger days....)
I meant the Everclear was not safe to drink.
(it is, but I say that as a joke because I had a bad experience with a bottle in my younger days....)
Jesse Heywood
Member
I knew what you were saying.
Let common sense be your guide. If it makes you uncomfortable, don't do it still applies!
a little expensive.. but I never thought of Everclear!
Jesse Heywood
Member
I learned about Everclear when a guy at our museum was using it to clean impurities out of historic papers. He learned about it in a preservation class in college.
Varminterror
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Pure alcohol is also “near instant death,” but it is both true that partly diluted alcohol does kill faster (and subsequently more completely than pure alcohols), AND that partly diluted alcohol does significantly expand your volume, aka reduce your costs.
“Germ” describes a broad spectrum of fungi, bacteria, yeast, and single cell organisms - many of these do have metabolic mechanisms to stabilize their cell walls when shocked, for example, yeast produce iso-amyl alcohols and glycerine (another polyol itself) to stabilize their cell wall against osmotic stresses. The harder the shock (higher concentration), the more the cell wall restricts and the more the cell releases these self stabilizers. It’ll still cross the cell wall and cease functions, vaporize and rupture the wall, but the cells will try harder to prevent it.
But really nothing living makes it away from pure alcohol either.
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