[ Ref. David Dewey in 190921 MMDigest ]

For those of you having trouble finding alcohol to dissolve and remove
a shellac finish, they are 'force feeding' us alcohol in our gasoline,
and yet we can't just buy pure alcohol.  Doesn't that seem peculiar to
anyone?  If alcohol is such a good fuel, why can't we buy pure alcohol
to fuel engines specifically designed to run on it, and leave our
gasoline untainted?

More to our point here, if E85 fuel is 85% alcohol, can it be used
safely and effectively to remove an old shellac finish?  Flammability
can't be the issue here because alcohol is flammable too, and all the
work needs to be done in an open or ventilated area.

The odor of gasoline is easily baked out of wood.  Here in Texas, there
is no shortage of days where the outside temperature is near halfway to
boiling.  Wheel the instrument outside in the sun and put some of that
'global warming' to good use!  So, why can't it be done that way?

Steven Reed
Dallas, Texas

 [ Answer:  Alcohol is added to thin shellac before application.
 [ Foreign chemicals like gasoline contaminate shellac.  The
 [ discussion isn't about a removing a finish.   -- Robbie