On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 22:30:15 +0100, "May" wrote:

What do they use meths for? (I've just found some in the cupboard.)

Lots of things it's not desperately good for.

Meths is:

- mainly ethanol (drinkable)

- methanol (not drinkable - makes you sick, blind, mad and dead in
about that order)

- pyridine (stinks)

- purple dye (just to annoy french polishers)

It's not hard to get clear meths. It's increasingly hard to get
unstenched meths, but you still can. If you're working with it all day
in this summer's heat, you'll be glad you bothered.


It burns easily and the combination of vapour pressure and flash point
mean that it's very safe to do so. Unlike petrol, it won't produce a
fireball. Unlike paint thinners or paraffin, it won't stink if you use
it to light a barbecue.

It's a fairly poor cleaning solvent, but handy. Acetone or isopropanol
are usually better.

Most of mine gets used as a solvent for shellac in french polishing.