[Jewelry making - Article 01218] - Re: [Orchid] Shellac removal

[Marty]

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    I read Ian Wright's method which sounds like it will work just fine,
    but I would rather avoid heating alcohol over an open flame. True,
    his method suggests a way to deal with the occasional accidental
    fire, but the particularly tricky thing about alcohol fires is that
    you usually can't see the flame, it is that pale and non-luminous.
    Thus a person might set his little pan of alcohol on fire without
    even knowing it, or spill some that was on fire with dire results.
    Years ago I spilled some burning alcohol on my wrist - never knew it
    was aflame, couldn't see the fire, but I sure felt it. Ian Wright
    sounds like a cool hand and I'm sure I could deal with an accidental
    fire just as he does, but not everyone is as composed when confronted
    with the problem he describes, just like some people are scared of
    mice and some aren't. Someone trying to do the ol' smother-the
    -flames-against-the-underside-of-the-bench trick could very well bump
    the edge of the bench and slosh burning alcohol down the front of his
    pants - or whatever. 

    There is a device called an "Immersion heater" which is a small
    electric heating coil - originally invented by my high school biology
    teacher in the 1940's. There is some common lab procedure in
    elementary biology lab which requires heating alcohol. Too many lab
    techs and students were setting themselves on fire unknowingly by
    using bunsen burners and the like. Thus the immersion heater -  to
    solve the problem safely. These are very inexpensive and easy to get
    - as they have long since been adapted for more prosaic uses such as
    making a cuppa tea when travelling away from home. You plug it into
    the wall and drop the business end into your tea cup and voila!
    Boiling water. I suspect a large drugstore would be a good place to
    start looking for one. Or a store selling gadgets for travellers. 

    Marty in Victoria where I just don't feel like travelling anywhere
    far from here.

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