This conversation is scaring me a little. ;-) I'm going to have to disagree slightly with either Wikipedia or your interpretation of its information.
First, please be very, VERY careful about what you put on your wheel surface. Before you try anything of a solvent nature, remove your rosin with 600 grit sandpaper and reapply it. Repeat this several times, to see if it solves the problem. IF at this point you choose to use a solvent, choose one with a low water content, and use it sparingly, with a swab. Most wheel surfaces are made of wood, and won't react well to water - you may have removed the oil, but now you'll have a high spot where the wood swelled. Ethanol (ethyl alcohol, a chain of 2 carbons with an OH group) is typically distilled to 95% purity, the other 5% being water. This is what you get in a bottle of Everclear. A few drops of this on the wheel is fine. It's also the alcohol that some of us drink (much more diluted) in the pub. It's possible to obtain 100% pure ethanol, but it's much more difficult to make, and it doesn't stay 100% for long: as soon as you open the bottle, it absorbs moisture from the air. Denatured alcohol is ethanol with something added to make it undrinkable. The problem is that what is added isn't always the same thing, and can vary from just nasty to downright dangerous. Common additives are methanol (methyl alcohol, a single carbon with an OH group, also called wood alcohol) and toluene, a nasty carbon-ring chemical. Nothing in denatured alcohol is something you want to ingest, breathe, or absorb through your skin. Neither of these is sold in the US as rubbing alcohol. Isopropanol is also called isopropyl alcohol. It has 3 carbons in a Y shape attached to the OH group. It's toxic to drink, and doesn't have the enjoyable effect of ethanol. It gets diluted to 70% with water and sold as rubbing alcohol. This means that rubbing alcohol from the pharmacy (the chemist's, for you Brits) contains 30% water. This is, in my opinion, too much to put on a wheel surface. This is why we strongly recommend against using isopropanol for a solvent for liquid rosin. Alden > > Ether can have several meanings: > Ether, a general class of chemical compoundsDiethyl ether, a common solvent, > chemical compound, and anestheticAether (classical element), in the context > of physics and philosophy... > And > > Methylated spirit (or Meths, also Methyl Hydrate or denatured alcohol) is > ethanol which has rendered toxic or otherwise undrinkable, and in some cases > dyed. It is used for purposes such as fuel for spirit burners and camping > stoves, and as a solvent. > > And in the US we identify rubbing alcohol, which is what I would probably use: > > Rubbing alcohol is a liquid prepared for topical application to skin prepared > from specially denatured alcohol and containing 68.5-71.5% vol./vol. of > absolute (ie. 100%) alcohol. However, recent formulations seem to contain 95% > v/v of ethyl alcohol component. NOTE: the British Pharmacopoeia and United > States Pharmacopoeia define the term "Alcohol" as a mixture of ethanol (Ethyl > Alcohol, C2H5OH=46.07) and water of fixed proportions. > Alcohol, B.P. = ethanol 96% v/vAlcohol, U.S.P. = ethanol 95% v/v Therefore, > the term rubbing alcohol refers to a mixture using ethyl alcohol. > > > These are just little bits of the information available -- take a look and see > what else Wikipedia has to say. > > > --Dennis Sherman > Chicago, IL, USA > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Keith Freeman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 7:59:51 AM > Subject: Re: [HG] Cleaning your wheel > >> I don't think ether is an "over the counter" thing in the UK. >> Would industrial spirit (also known as surgical spirit) do instead? > Isn't ether just the informal name for the stuff the nurse paints your > arm with before inserting the needle, i.e. surgical spirit? Over here in > Holland we use 'denatured alcohol' (which I presume is the same, or > similar) as a general grease remover. Also good for removing grease by > absorbing it is Fuller's Earth, though I've no idea whether it works on > wheels and whether you can still buy it. > > -Keith > > > > > >
