Mixing gasoline into premixed finishes


Kim Alenduff Viall

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I was watching a facebook conversation on a group that I belong to. The person was looking for someone to help her refinish her table. Here is how the conversation went:

 

"GGL: Hello! Looking for a crafty person that knows how to re-stain a wooden table and some pieces of the matching chairs, if you know how to and would have the time to do it and make a little $ for it please message me. TIA

 
FP: I restained my own table <insert picture>
 
GGL: Ooh!!! That is so pretty!!! Did you do it here in Germany?
 
FP: No I did it back in Ft Bliss before I moved here! You'll need stripping, a sander (probably 100% easier since I sanded mine by hand), gasoline and the stain and a clear coat. If you need help I could help you do it. It's super fun and a workout. A 2-day project.
 
FP: Oh and an old shirt or a couple you wouldn't mind throwing away and something to mix the gasoline and stain in.
 
SW: I've redone dressers before, shelves, and a table. I've never used gasoline before, this is a new spin on things...if you do use gasoline, then you better have nitrile gloves on...actually, you should have nitrile gloves regardless, stain is stain for a reason
 
FP: Yea I used gloves. The man who helped me out said it was to prevent the table from becoming sticky the way my sister's did.
 
KViall: It all depends on what type of finish you use. There is shellac which is typically mixed with alcohol. There are polyurethane stains that are premixed and if not applied correctly can become sticky. My husband, who is very familiar with woodworking andand finishing says you never, ever, ever use gasoline...(number one you are making something highly flammable now, and gasoline is not a pure additive). Please be sure to check the ingredients before adding additional additives. Not all "stains"/finishes are the same and chemicals react in volatile ways, even in ways where the fumes can kill you, like you never mix bleach and ammonia.
 
KViall: Woodtalk is a good forum for decent information about finishing. http://www.woodtalkonline.com/"
 
My own responses are highlighted as red ink. Note shameless plug. I was just wondering how prevalent an idea using gasoline is as an additive to pre-mixed stains. Is this something that should be addressed so we don't have a lot of novices trying to add gasoline to whatever stain they find? Thanks for the information. Also note that this facebook group consists of Americans living in Germany and most of them are not able to read the German labels on stains they grab from the local German hardware store.
 

 

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Modern gas has other stuff besides gas in it, like dyes and alcohol.   Aside from the safety aspect, the smell of raw gas is awful...

 

The only gas I've seen in a long time that is alcohol-free is AvGas, and that's leaded.  AvGas leaves a blue and white residue when it dries.  The 96 to 112 octane stuff sold at racetracks even has 10% alcohol now.

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Modern gas has other stuff besides gas in it, like dyes and alcohol. Aside from the safety aspect, the smell of raw gas is awful...

The only gas I've seen in a long time that is alcohol-free is AvGas, and that's leaded. AvGas leaves a blue and white residue when it dries. The 96 to 112 octane stuff sold at racetracks even has 10% alcohol now.

Marinas around here will sell ethanol free unleaded. It is pricy, but many old boat motors require it to run properly.

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Marinas around here will sell ethanol free unleaded. It is pricy, but many old boat motors require it to run properly.

 

 

We can't even get that...  The marinas now sell products to counteract the effects of ethanol, along with their ethanol laced gas.    ;^)

 

It's far from unusual to see classic car owners hooking up with pilots at uncontrolled airports to help them fill up a few 5'ers of 100LL at self-serve aviation pumps.

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We can't even get that... The marinas now sell products to counteract the effects of ethanol, along with their ethanol laced gas. ;^)

It's far from unusual to see classic car owners hooking up with pilots at uncontrolled airports to help them fill up a few 5'ers of 100LL at self-serve aviation pumps.

that's quite common around here also. Southern California has a lot of small municipal airports and a lot of classic cars. One of my high school friends drove a 1949 Studebaker Hawk. He would drive 30 miles to his gas place to fill up. Seems kind of counter productive when it burns four gallons just to go get gas.
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VP Fuels will ship drums of 100% gas for off-road use, but it's $10+/gal, plus shipping, for 92 octane fuel.  It's basically the product they sell in big boxes and hardware stores in $6 quarts, as "SEF" Small Engine Fuel, in bulk.  

 

I use SEF 50/1 2 cycle premix in my weedwackers and leaf blowers, as it really does have a great shelf life, but each tool probably uses a quart a year.

 

For many years, I used 96 octane race gas in my mower and snowblower...  It was great, no end of season draining, and no stale fuel, season after season.   E10 sometimes goes bad in as little as 90 days.  AvGas and E0 race gas lasts years!  

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No, these are American military families. Before I moved to Germany means before they were stationed here.

I figured he was military, but I got it backwards.  I thought perhaps someone tried to translate "Benzene" and got "Benzin", which would translate to Gasoline.

 

But I could talk about Panzer Kaserne, or Patch Barracks all day long...

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  • 6 years later...
On 4/7/2015 at 1:00 PM, Brendon_t said:

That's actually kind of hilarious. I have never used gasoline for this purpose so I cannot comment on its validity. With so many other options that are made specifically for the purpose, I'm not sure why you would need to use gasoline.

 

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