Meths question

[jimford]

I don't use meths - it's the urine of The Devil!

Jim

 

[Chinkapin]

Actually jimford, i think that gasoline (petrol) is the urine of the devil. I once had a sigg fuel bottle for my seva leak in my backpack and every single thing in the pack smelled very strongly of gasoline and I was a walking bomb before I noticed it.

If alcohol leaks on something it just evaporates and does not leave behind any smell to speak of and is not a disaster requiring that you wash everything. There is a huge difference.

The only drawback, alcohol packs considerably less heat that alcohol. But is safer to handle, and burn.

Most of the time I'm a twig stove man, just have a pepsi can stove for backup.

 

[jimford]

Actually jimford, i think that gasoline (petrol) is the urine of the devil.

I use naptha in my petrol stoves. It smells pleasantly like lighter fuel.

BTW, don't buy 'Coleman White Spirit' at around £8 for 500ml, but 'Panel Wipe' from a car body shop at around £12 for 5 Litres. They're both petroleum naptha and I suspect the panel wipe is purer than Coleman White Spirit, because for it's task it needs to leave no non-volatile residue.

Jim

 

[Chinkapin]

Right, jimford, naptha is the way to go for fuel for petrol stoves. Never heard of Panel Wipe, but I'm sure car body shops here have the same thing. Probably under another name. One thing I have learned on this site is the Americans and Brits don't call anything by the same name. lol

When I was a boy, you could go to any gas (petrol) station and buy what was called "white gas." It hasn't been sold in decades. I have heard speculation that it was naptha and also that it was unleaded regular gas before unleaded gas was sold under the name "unleaded".

It was about the same price as gallon of regular gas. Anyway, it was used by everyone for petrol stoves.

 

[rik_uk3]

Right, jimford, naptha is the way to go for fuel for petrol stoves. Never heard of Panel Wipe, but I'm sure car body shops here have the same thing. Probably under another name. One thing I have learned on this site is the Americans and Brits don't call anything by the same name. lol

When I was a boy, you could go to any gas (petrol) station and buy what was called "white gas." It hasn't been sold in decades. I have heard speculation that it was naptha and also that it was unleaded regular gas before unleaded gas was sold under the name "unleaded".

It was about the same price as gallon of regular gas. Anyway, it was used by everyone for petrol stoves.

A fellow stove collector I know in the States lives near an Amish community and can still get white gas from the pump (for UK members the Amish still use it in lanterns etc) and is a lot cheaper than gallon cans of Coleman. Panel wipe is good but has gone up in price near me, about £18 for 5 litres so I use Aspen 4T which is pure naptha and around £12, burns very clean, no residual smell from any spills (same as the panel wipe). From time to time I can get gallon cans of Coleman for £10 off an American mate who is working for the USAF over here for another 18 months, burns the same as the panel wipe and 4T

 

[Chinkapin]

rik_uk3 : Thanks for the "white gas" tip. I live about 50 miles from a Mennonite community and I go there every once in a while. Buy most of my pork from them. No growth hormones, etc.

I will check and see if I can buy it there, If so I should save a bundle.

They have a hardware store there that is like stepping back in time to the 19th century.

Anyway, thanks, I'll check it out.

 

[Chinkapin]

Anyone interested in living simpler, with hand powered tools, home canning, 19th century lifestyle should check out : http://www.lehmans.com/ This is a hardware, farm supply, store that caters to the Amish in Pennsylvania.

You will really enjoy looking at their catalogue.