I have tried searching the forum and archives, if this has been covered please forgive me. California has banned denatured alcohol. A few months ago a kook ditched their board, it got sucked over the falls, just missed my groin and went fins first into the deck of my epoxy board. The board has dried out and I am ready to fix it except I need to get rid of the wax residue. Any recommendations?
Household vinegar from the grocery store. Lots cheaper than Denatured Alcohol and works just as well.
Order on Amazon, or make a quick trip to Yuma, or Quartzite.
Once the bulk is removed, what other solvents or cleaners work besides denatured alcohol or vinegar? Acetone? Mineral spirits? Not from California so not up on the VOC codes there. Heard it’s hard to get it as fuel for boat stoves but sometimes can be had at West Marine.
Ohhhhhkaaay, there’s a lot of things that will dissolve the paraffin/petroleum jelly blend that is most surf wax. For instance, gasoline does a lovely job.
However, what you want is something that won’t eat styrene foam which I’m gonna assume is what you have under that epoxy glass job. And after a leak in a fuel tank and some interesting things that happened to the styrene floatation foam I’ll tell ya that 89 octane gasoline most definitely will turn styrene foam into a chewing gum-like goo.
Alcohols, not so chemically fierce, not such strong petrochemical solvents. Less likely to eat your foam. Straight ethyl alcohol like Everclear would work okay, but ( I checked) it’s illegal in CA. Probably just as well.
Me, I’d suggest one of the inexpensive citrus based cleaners, say Simple Green and similar. Or one of the orange based wax removers like this stuff. . Use paper towels or white rags ( dyes in colored rags can be dissolved by solvents including strong cleaners and ya got pink everywhere) and see what happens.
Besides, they smell a lot nicer than vinegar.
hope that’s of use.
doc…
Thanks everyone for your recommendations. I had some white gas which is mostly lighter hydrocarbons than octane, which she gingerly applied didn’t seem to eat the foam. Octane and heavier hydrocarbons seems to be the point at which styrene starts to dissolve according to the chemistry resources I looked at. I’ll get some of the orange cleaners and then vinegar before laminating the fiberglass. Bill, I am currently in Monterey, which seems like the farthest point from any of California’s neighbors. When I make my next voyage up to oregon, I’ll have to raid the ex’s place for my old denatured alcohol stash(we are on good terms). Also for what its worth Greenlight Surf Supply’s epoxy repair kits kick the snot out of the Ding All kits. I’ll be patient and willing to wait to order from them in the future.
FWIW,
Denatured Alcohol is now illegal in CA but you can still buy Isopropyl Alcohol.
Works just as good for the same uses. Stoves, Shellac etc…
Just an update/correction-
I got curious about orange based cleaners. It seems that the active ingredient, d-limonene, is a byproduct of orange juice production. All fine, kind of a cute non-saturated molecule, pretty much harmless.Good solvent and cleaner. Toxic to aquatic life, so don’t use it to clean your fish tank
However…from Wikipedia
“Limonene is also used as a solvent for fused filament fabrication based 3D printing.[18] Printers can print the plastic of choice for the model, but erect supports and binders from High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS), a polystyrene plastic that is easily soluble in limonene.”
Which eventually led me to this: Styrofoam dissolving in D-limonene - YouTube
So, you might want to be careful around styrene foam with this stuff. Instead, paper towels and mild heat?
hope that’s of use
doc…
Best to test any solvent on a piece of XPS or EPS first.
A previous discussion about wax removal:
Break out the Sterno. Plenty up here. No matter what industry you’re in. What materials you are working with etc. The "elite " in California are gonna find a way to make your life tougher.
First I’ve heard of this. Banning Denatured is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Guess acetone is next.
Maybe check your local auto supply place… “HEET” is methanol and it’s listed as ‘in stock’ at Morro Bay store right now.
I’ve purchased Everclear as well at Bev-Mo but not recently. The high potency stuff hasn’t been available for awhile but even the low grade (120 proof) Everclear is stronger than denatured alcohol. And no, I don’t drink it…
Makes a good wedding punch. And it packs a “punch”.