Hammer Juice Solvents, Alcohols, Long

[Susan Kline]

At 07:56 PM 9/6/2001 -0400, Earl S. Dunlap wrote:
>By the way, any of these alcohols are very water soluble (as is acetone
>(very much more volatile & thus more flammable) or methyl ethyl ketone (a
>bit less so)), and when they evaporate rapidly, will chill the area drawing
>moisture from the air--more so in humid climates.  This moisture has the
>potential to release the press in the wool!  (Re:  Susan Kline's correct
>"steam in a bottle" comment on 04 Sep 2001 18:30:15)

Thank you so much for providing this explanation, Earl. I didn't realize
that 190 proof alcohol would also act like steam due to its lowering the
temperature by evaporation. I was describing the use of grain alcohol
cut half and half with water for voicing ("vodka", more or less.) However,
when I called it "steam in a bottle" I just described the effect it
seemed to have, with only guesswork behind it. I'm delighted to find out
the theory behind it. ("See, she wasn't so crazy after all ...")

Thanks, also, for talking about the toxicity of methanol. I still don't
understand why tuners seem so eager to use it in preference to ethanol.

Susan Kline