Alternative to Toluene for washing silicone after stripping?

[Mike Dowell]

I like to prevent fisheye entirely - and despite the fact that I do use a fisheye additive in my lacquer system, I sometimes STILL get fisheye on table tops. I've figured out one thing: when I brush on my MC stripper, if the stripper itself fisheyes, I know I've got a problem brewing.

I recently purchased "Silicone Wash" from Mohawk - a product that claims to be a superior after wash for removing silicone residue left over after stripping. It was $30 for the gallon, and it DOES work. I decided to check the MSDS, and guess what? 99.99% Toluene! My immediate thought was "where can I buy Toluene less expensively?"

Turns out, the box stores sell everything BUT. So, I'm wondering what you all use for this situation? I use the heck out of Naptha, but it doesn't seem to be as strong or effective as the Toluene.

Thoughts?

[Scott Holmes]

A sprayed coat of de-waxed shellac will seal it and prevent the fish-eye. I haven't looked for Toluene lately, still have some in the shop. I'll check next time at a big box store.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Try Xylene if Toluene isn't readily available.
Sometimes the two go under the names of Xylol and Toluol.
They are very close together.

Finding either is going to become more and more problematic since they are extremely heavy in VOC's.

Naphtha and/or any of the aliphatic family of solvents aren't strong enough to do much except dilute the silicone and smear it around.
Same with the alcohol based solvents.

Dewaxed shellac sprayed on will go a long way towards helping.
It should be sprayed on though since any mechanical means (brushing, rolling padding) will put the silicone in suspension and smear it around.

[Mike Dowell]

Nice - I just assumed shellac would crater up as well. I guess that just shows that dexwaxed shellac is the true king.

I didn't realize xylene and toluene were very similar. I mean, I understand that they are both petroleum distillates, along with naphtha, all having different evaporation rates, but I just assumed there was something magical about toluene which is why Mohawk packages it specifically for this purpose.

Where does Acetone fit into this family?

[Daniel Smith]

Chemically, acetone is somewhere between the aliphatic hydrocarbons and alcohols. It really isn't very similar to the aromatic hydrocarbons like toluene and xylene.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Yep - acetone and other members of the "tone" clan are in a separate place.
A basic thumbnail of solvents is:
1.) Aliphatic - the "weakest" of the solvents.
Mineral Spirits, K1 Kerosene, lamp oil. Tiki Torch fuel, (some) naphtha, diesel fuel, charcoal lighter fluid, *Stoddard solvent (depending on the reference it can be either)- all are more or less the same thing. If you don't have one, one of the others can do in a pinch.

2.) Aromatic - more "solvent power" than the aliphatic.
Xylol, toluol, (some) naphtha, lighter fluid, rubber platen cleaner (for typewriters an dot matrix printers), *Stoddard solvent (depending on the reference it can be either).
Again, they can often be used interchangeably.

3.) The "tone" family, Acetone, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Methyl Isobutyl Ketone, nail polish remover,
"strongest" of the common solvents. Fast to very fast flash off (fast evaporation)

4.) The alcohols....mostly a specialty item. The most useful thing to remember about them is that the higher the water content, the cheaper the price - - & - - alcohol is hydroscopic, it will wick moisture out of the air.
Keep your container tightly closed & don't try to save money by buying in large containers. Use what you need and buy it mostly when needed.
(no doubt someone is going to chime in and say they buy denatured alcohol by the gallon and have been using the same gallon for years w/out ill effect. That's fine. For every one of those, there's ten that wonder why their shellac is sticky after three days).

5.) Solvents with no real home - - lacquer thinner. It's a blend of aliphatic, aromatic and alcohol - sometimes with a dash of MEK thrown in.
Fast dry and strong cleaner. Don't use it to thin anything but - NC lacquer.
Can clean up just about any application tools for just about anything oil or solvent based - including epoxies.

While all of them generally require a lot of ventilation, the aromatic family is probably the worst of the bunch to breathe.
Those are the ones that glue sniffers and "huffers" use to get high. They will tear up your central nervous system something fierce.

[Lee Schierer]

Instead of trying to get silicone off the surface, I would eliminate the source of the silicone.

[Mike Dowell]

Instead of trying to get silicone off the surface, I would eliminate the source of the silicone.

Lee, the source of the silicone is probably the last 40 years of the customer using furniture polish. Did I misread?

@Rich - excellent write up! Thank you

[John Huds0n]

Toulene is some pretty nasty stuff and is usually not that easy to get - I would be very careful if you continue to use it!

Have you ever heard of 'huffing'?