[R-390] Slippery stuff

[rbethman]

Charles,

Your suggestion is the direction I have just taken.

In lieu of a hair dryer, I have a heat gun.  They are simply a hotter 
heat blower.

I got very frustrated with obtaining the Ethanol.  I'd have to get a 
permit and license to order it on-line.

It is astonishing that I can walk into a firearms dealer and buy black 
powder or 7lb containers of WW 348 and no one bats an eye. That sort of 
thing can be used in very undesirable manners.  Yet simple Ethanol 
requires all this nonsense.

I probably would have been better off simply driving to North Carolina 
and buying a pint!

My $0.02 worth of mumbling at bureaucrats.....

Bob - N0DGN

On 10/25/2013 3:11 PM, Charles Steinmetz wrote:
> Bob wrote:
>
>> The Ethanol is a sticking point here. Trying to locate this crucial 
>> part of this method of lubrication, has been frustrating to say the 
>> least!
>>
>> Is there anything else that this powder can be mixed with?
>
> Any of the usual alcohols should be fine -- the only difference is 
> whether one or another of them would attack what you want to put the 
> WS2 on.  Ethanol is the gentlest alcohol in this regard. However, 
> since you will almost certainly be using it on metal, attack is 
> unlikely as long as there is no more than a minimal amount of water in 
> the solvent.  In this regard, note that whatever high concentration of 
> ethanol you start with, it will become an azeotrope of about 95% 
> alcohol and 5% water very shortly, because the hydroscopic nature of 
> the alcohol will pull water out of the atmosphere.  This will be true 
> even in a sealed container, because there is always some atmospheric 
> exchange.  I once worked in a lab where we used absolute ethanol, and 
> the precautions necessary to keep it that way are extraordinary.
>
> Common denatured alcohol (hardware store "solvent alcohol") is 
> generally 95% ethanol with about 5% methanol mixed in.  Isopropyl 
> alcohol is available in 99%, although the drugstore variety has 
> settled on 91% over the last 20 years.  Honestly, I don't see any 
> reason why 91% isopropyl wouldn't be perfectly fine.  If you put it 
> somewhere you worry that the water will not evaporate out, heat it 
> with a hair dryer for ten minutes.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Charles