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Liberon spirit sanding sealer

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I have a bottle of this and it’s got a bit thick. Can anyone confirm what the solvent is in it?
Is it just meths?
 
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I can't say for sure, it might be a concoction, but if it says Spirit-based, I would expect it to be meths. If it's gone too thick, you don't have much to lose by trying. But bear in mind that the more meths you add, the paler the stain will be...
S
 
One of the blurbs I read said tool cleaning with methylated spirit, if that helps.
 
Cabinetman said:
I’ve always wondered what happens to the blue dye in meths when French Polishing?
Click to expand...

I'd guess it is in such low concentrations that the colour gets swamped by the other colours in the polish. I have absolutely no basis for that though!

Cabinetman said:
Don’t suppose the commercial stuff used by Liberon will have any in it though.
Click to expand...

It's quite easy to buy it without dye, although confusingly it seems to be sold as "denatured alcohol" (which is, if I understand correctly, the American name for meths) when the dye isn't there. It still has the stinky stuff added, just not the colour.
 
Dr.Al said:
I'd guess it is in such low concentrations that the colour gets swamped by the other colours in the polish. I have absolutely no basis for that though!



It's quite easy to buy it without dye, although confusingly it seems to be sold as "denatured alcohol" (which is, if I understand correctly, the American name for meths) when the dye isn't there. It still has the stinky stuff added, just not the colour.
Click to expand...
Interesting I didn’t realise the smell was added, should have known though as just adding colour wouldn’t have deterred people drinking it!
 
Paul Sellers did an article about using this very product as a finish since it's just shellac dissolved in alcohol.
https://paulsellers.com/2011/04/how-to-apply-shellac-as-practical-wood-finish/
For use on pale woods I find the purple dye in commonly available meths can be visible.

Bioethanol (sold for camping stoves) is basically the same, mostly alcohol(ethanol) with the added methanol to make it undrinkable but without the purple dye. This is a bottle of meths I've left in the sun for a bit to see if the dye would fade, didn't change a lot, the bioethanol is crystal clear as supplied.
20250818_142940.jpg
 
I've never tried it, but I think I read somewhere that you get rid of the purple colour by adding a stick of charcoal to it. Given that activated charcoal is used as a filter for all kinds of things, I can well belive that it would work. I might have a little play.
S
 
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It will be a cellulose thinner. Easy to obtain. I've never tried meths but I doubt it would be the thing.
 
Meths and cellulose thinner are compatible in my experience, i.e., adding one to the other doesn't cause or create a solvent that's incompatible with whatever finish product either of these solvents were part of. For example, I commonly added cellulose thinner to meths solvent formulated spirit dye to adjust the dye's strength prior to applying the stuff with a spray gun.

I suspect the greatest difference between cellulose thinner and meths with regard to the dye relates to how quickly one flashes off compared to the other. I'm not sure, but I think the meths flashes off the slower of the two. Slainte.
 
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