What can you use with denatured alcohol to make it gel like the Sterno product?
- posted
20 years ago
What can you use with denatured alcohol to make it gel like the Sterno product?
I've never tried, but Google says:
I have never tried this.
I have no idea what the commercial product uses but I have an old WWII-era formula book that has a lot of substitutes for common items in it. They recommend either using fine sand to hold the alcohol in the can or disolving bar soap in alcohol to gel it. You'll have a hard time finding real soap anymore and I think the smell in use would be interesting to say the least. I think Ivory is the only brand left that's real soap, the rest are some sort of detergents with fillers.
Stan
I use sodium hydroxide and stearine.
You dissolve a the right amount of each in an alcohol, heating without flame, that is, by electrical resistance, until dissolved, if heat is necessary for your particular alcohol. Then you just dump and mix.
An excess of the reactants will produce a waxy product. I'm sorry, but I no longer have the proportions.
As an aside, do you know that icy hot stuff, various brands? I made some with methyl alcohol and calcium chloride. Neat. It goes on smooth, then gets warm when it contacts water.
Not for contact with mucous membranes. Do not eat. Keep away from children. Don't cross against traffic. Don't do that, you'll put your eye out!
Yours,
Doug Goncz, Replikon Research, Seven Corners, VA Unpublished work Copyright 2003 Doug Goncz Fair use and Usenet distribution without restriction or fee Civil and criminal penalties for circumvention of any embedded encryption
The Pop. Science Book of Formulas gives a couple of recipes for solidified alcohol: denatured alcohol 1000 parts soap chips, dried 28-30 parts gum lac 2 parts heat alcohol to about 140 deg. F. and mix with the other ingredients, shake well until complete solution takes place, put into cans while warm and allow to cool.
another: alcohol 1000 cc. stearic acid 60 gm. sodium hydroxide 13.5 gm.
dissolve stearic acid in 500 cc. of the alcohol and dissolve sodium hydroxide in the other 500 cc. alcohol, warm both solutions to 60 deg. C. and mix together, pour into warm container & allow to solidify.
Here's one for solidified gasoline: gasoline 1/2 gallon white soap 12 oz. household ammonia 5 oz. hot water 1 pint
finely shave the soap and work up to a paste with the hot water, when slightly cool add ammonia and work in the gasoline to form a semi-solid mass. May be diluted with either gasoline or water and will burn when ignited. Gasoline should be added in small quantities, gradually increasing the amount.
Haven't tried any of them myself, best of luck. Mike.
Thank you gentlemen for your input.Will start with the simpler formulas and work-up from there.
Rolled up cardboard in the can then wax. Like a fat candle, with the cardboard as a large surface wick. I think this is from an old boy scout handbook, or maybe Mother Earth News.
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