Removing glued stones

Jewelry Discussion
21

How about methanol? I bought a gallon a long time ago in a hardware
store but now I can’t find any. Yes it is available at the drug
store for 4x to 5x the cost. Where can one get a gallon. I use it in
an alcohol lamp.

22 
I've boiled smoky quartz many times without changing its color.. I
wouldn't think there would be enough energy to reverse the effect
of the radiation.

212 degrees is not a high enoug temperature to do the job.

23

Hi Fred,

How about methanol? I bought a gallon a long time ago in a
hardware store but now I can't find any.

I think the alcohol you’re looking for is now called ‘Denatured
Alcohol’. I just looked at the ingredients on the gallon can I have.

The label lists the ingredients as: methanol, ketones & ethanol. It
doesn’t list the percentages of each.

The uses listed on the can are: thins shellac, cleans glass & metal
& is used as a fuel for marine stoves.

Seems like the last use would indicate safe usage in alcohol lamps.
In fact. the front of the can list the uses as ‘Shellac Thinner,
Excellent alcohol and chafing dish fuel.’

Dave

24

Thanks to all who replied to my question re. removing glued stones.
Acetone did the job and I now have some nice stones to re-set. I’ve
learned so much from reading Orchid but this is the first time I’ve
posted a question. Much appreciated.

Lauretta Bell

25

Denatured alcohol is ethanol that has been blended with some other
materials that make it unsatisfactory to drink. Denatured alcohol is
thus made tax free. The ethanol is still good as a non potable
solvent.

There are several government approved compounds that can be added -
methanol is a very common one and some ketones them. The physical
properties of these materials make them very difficult ( impossible
for practical purposes) to separate Methanol is very toxic – It
converts to formic acid in the body and will cause permanent
blindness and eventually death. Don’t even think about drinking it,
but people do --for a while.

jesse

26

Don’t know if still available but ATTACK is a glue remover, was
available from typical jewelers supply houses.

David
JewelerProfit

27

The correct fuel for your alcohol lamp is denatured alcohol, widely
available at hardware stores. Methanol is wood alcohol, and is quite
toxic on its own. To add to the confusion, methanol is a denaturant
for ethyl alcohol, creating denatured alcohol.

Wayne Emery
www.thelittlecameras.com

28 
How about methanol? I bought a gallon a long time ago in a
hardware store but now I can't find any.

I don’t know about ~everywhere~. Generally speaking you can no longer
buy methanol in a retail setting - i.e. non-chemical supply, because
it’s so poisonous and people drink it. Denatured alcohol is
formulated so that if you DO drink it, you’ll throw up… And it does
the job just as well for most everyday purposes, like alcohol lamps.
And it dissolves shellac but not epoxy at all.

BTW, Attack doesn’t strictly dissolve epoxy, either - it breaks the
bonds of some polymers… Same thing, I guess, depending on how you
look at it…

29

Methylene Chloride is also available as carburet cleaner in auto
parts stores. I found through hard experience that it isn’t friendly
to flesh and plastics, so use with care.

30

I’ve had great results with Attack glue solvent!