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I have never seen the Ever Clear in my area. I have seen the Golden Grain 190 proof here in Ga. It has been sometime since I visited a spirit vendor it may no longer available.

Everclear is a trade mark brand name for a 190 proof pure grain alcohol I believe Golden Grain is the same. The only thing to be sure of is that it is a "pure" grain alcohol.

I also find Methanol to evaporate faster than Ethanol. But it's toxic as David said, and not something to be messed with. I recently tossed an old can of Denatured out because I simply won't use it anymore.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I use pure ethanol, it's not available for retail purchase over here, but I do have a whole University's laboratories to raid! But the small amounts of methanol on DA/methylated spirit is not going to be a problem in the amounts french poishers would use.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

One thing you have to realize is that 'denatured' alcohol is not all the same. I have a chemistry handbook that lists the different formulas they use, and the industrial applications they are appropriate for. All sorts of things are used to make grain alcohol undrinkable, from gasoline to nicotine and a hundred or so other things in between. Thus, stating that one evaporates faster than the other is simply meaningless unless you know the formula that was used. Sadly, I don't recall ever seeing that information on the can, although it may be somewhere in the fine print. The different formulas are numbered, and if you can find that number you could at least look up what's in the can.

When I was first learning to French polish I had trouble getting good results with anthing less than the drinkable stuff. As I got better at it I found I could substitute lesser, and less expensive, grades. These days I hardly ever break out the 'good stuff' except for 'spiriting off' the last of the oil, if I used a non-drying one. Behlen's 'Bekhol' works most like the staight stuff for me: it's more expensive than the hardware store stuff, but not nearly so much as the kind you can drink.

BTW, 190 proof is 95% alcohol, not 90. The last 5% of water is so tightly bound to the alcohol molecules that it can't be got out by normal distillation. In the old days they used to add benzene, which binds even more tightly to the water, and then distill it again, but that left a little bit of benzene in the final 'pure' alcohol. When the found out it was a carcinogen they stoppped doing it that way. I'm told that these days they use quick lime, which absorbs the water. At any rate, once you open the cap on a bottle of 200 proof alcohol it very quickly adsorbs enough water from the air to get down to 190.

     There are plenty of pages on distilling your own ethanol. I don't drink, but, a friend of mine distills his own vodka out of his garage! I believe he uses a double head still and has a fractional column to separate the toxic alcohols.

    It relatively simple and it isn't critical to get as much as the methanol out! As I understand it most just drip out the lower temp alcohols until the ethanol temperature is reached.

He can make a bottle of Everclear's worth very fast! A little copper tubing and some marbles and your there!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

I attended Marshall Brune's FP class at the GAL convention, and the one comment that he made about grain alcohol made a believer out of me. Of course, they only use "everclear". Now, his comment was just what Robbie said- that the denatured can dissolve the wax in the shellac flakes, producing a softer, and duller finish.
AND, I was told that the grain alcohol will produce a finish that has virtually unlimited shelf life.

Good reasons in my book, and I'm switching.
Just as soon as I can find a paper bag to place over my head when I go shopping for the stuff.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

    I wanted to add that distilling is legal if you get a permit from the ATF! As long as it's above 150 proof and under 10,000 gals/yr. I think it's an alcohol fuel permit(AFP) and it doesn't cost anything. Changes were made in the laws for transportation needs and small industrial uses, vis-a-vis guitar building.

    Anything above 120 is difficult to drink and Everclear, I think, is 190, as mentioned.

    I've heard that alcohols absorb through the skin easily, as well as the methanol vapors are very bad for you, long term. I wouldn't want to experiment to find out! Billy T38895.1927662037

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

[QUOTE=Billy T]     I wanted to add that distilling is legal if you get a permit from the ATF! As long as it's above 150 proof and under 10,000 gals/yr. [/QUOTE]

Different laws in Canada. Freezer distilling is legal in canada and works well, no permit needed. I make 22% using *KG of sugar and Super Yeast. Makes 23 Leters. The super yeast comes with clarifier as well and then you filter it. You then put it in the frezer in Ice cream pails, wait 12 hours and strain out the ice and then repeat. Gives 180 proof a third time through gives 190 proof. I sell the Liquor Quick kits so have easy access to this but ussually I use this for making my booze for drinking. And yes you can drink 190 proof but you can't drink much of it damhik

I get a gallon of 190 proof grain alcohol from time to time from a local herbalist who buys it in large quantities for making herbal tinctures. I can't buy grain alcohol at the liquor store in NY state, and this way it's cheaper than Everclear, anyway. If you have any herbalists in your area, this might be a good option.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/