Shellac--how dangerous is denaturated alcohol?

Fumes are strong and will ignite with flame. Basicly its pretty safe but always use the best saftey gear that you have and are comfortable with. Some saftey gear to pricey but lungs, eyes, ears and fingers are even more costly and really hard to replace. Always work to the safe side!

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Alcohol isn’t that bad. You should wear a respirator IF you spray it, but you are fine if your just brushing it.

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL

DrTebi

I do not think you need to make serious thoughts on the fumes… as long as your shop/work area well vented is and you gloves you have, it should not be a problem. I think it is typical for american products to have “idiot” warnings and what not… one time I have een saw a garbage can with a huge list of warnings on it. One pictogram had a person head first with water as a sort of drowning warning! Which I found pretty funny.

But seriously, you should not have any problems… excecpt for the alcohol, the schellack is about as natural as you can get for a finishing product.

-- Nicholas, Journeyman Cabinetmaker, Partenkirchen, Germany

As everyone said, its not too bad unless you try to drink it…. its an acquired taste :-) (DONT TRY TO DRINK IT)

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

I’ve worked with denatured alcohol for the past 13 years at my day job and as has been mentioned already, short of drinking it or exposing it to an open flame your only concern will be it evaporating before it’s completely applied (I wouldn’t worry about that either).

The great thing about the denatured alcohol and shellac is it dries quickly and there’s practically zero smell. I use it all the time in my basement shop.

-- Straight grains & sharp blades

I pad shellac at the kitchen counter unit all the time. Just don’t smoke around it or drink it. They add the wood alcohol so it won’t be a temptation for drinking.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

wikis are agood place to start getting specific information on various things.
They are not always right but then again, what is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatured_alcohol

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Denatured alcohol is basically “pure grain”, just as we can buy at a liquor store. The “denaturing” process involves adding a chemical to make it poisonous and undrinkable. If it were drinkable, we would have to pay liquor taxes.

This is why shellac surfaces are so easily damaged by spilled hard liquor. We drink the solvent! <g>

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