Any good alternative to Acetone?

HI
please state good alternatives to acetone,used for removing any repair in a mineral. acetone is very expensive. i was wondering if i can use butyl or ethanol which is easily available in my area.

How much acetone are you using?!

What are you trying to do? Remove the old glue from a specimen so you can re-glue it? Do you know what kind of glue is already on the specimen? Where do you live? Acetone is usually pretty cheap. How much do you need? Ethanol or Isopropanol should also be fairly cheap, but short chain alcohols are often not as good as dissolving some glues as some of the short chain ketones like acetone or methyl isobutyl keytone (MIBK).

I am not sure what you mean by butyl. Butyl alcohol would be more expensive than acetone I would think and I can guarantee you will not like the smell.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Laquer thinner is a good substitute for acetone, alcohol of any type is pretty much useless.

In the US, acetone is available for about $17/gallon, denatured alcohol is $7/quart

I bought some "100% acetone" in small bottle at the Rite Aid Drug store for $3 easrlier this week. They have it because it is used to remove nail polish. Jphn S.

(the reason I asked the original question is because for a while I worked in a cadaver plastination lab, and we used tens to hundreds of litres of acetone in one of the steps per batch of specimens. It was lab grade and quite expensive on that scale, enough so that we tried to redistill it, but to an order of magnitude, not any more expensive than most other solvents. For immersing a specimen or especially running a bit along a crack, I don't think it would be prohibitively expensive.)

Will pure acetone harm aquamarine,quartz and feldspar mineral.

No.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

I was told that MEK (methyl,ethyl,ketone) is much stronger than acetone.is it sold like that or i have to make it myself?any effect on aqua.quartz and feldspar?

Acetone works great for its intended function--removing specimens from their glue (I use hot glue)--and it's cheap, but it also reacts with the acrylic bases, and can either discolor them or produce little craze lines if you're not careful.

I should have asked, why do you want to use acetone or a similar solvent on aquamarine?

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Kleen-Strip MEK Alternative ($24/gal @ Lowes) removes most epoxies. Be aware of the health hazards of these strong solvents.

Bob

MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) is a compound - that is the way it comes, if you can find it these days. It won't hurt quartz, feldspar, or aquamarine, or most any other mineral.

i was offered a very aesthetic aqua with quartz and feldspar mineral. and there is some double whether its been repaired or not. so i want to confirm it before buying.and for that i m asking u guyz these questions.

If you simply want to check before buying, a UV lamp might be of some use, but I do not know much about these tests. No dealer in his right mind will give you a specimen for a test that involves chemicals.
He might get back a specimen soaked with toxic chemicals and a nice "aromatic" smell

Acetone has one advantage over MEK, etc:
It is toxic, but more in the way alcohol is toxic - small amounts of acetone do not do much harm and the body can metabolize ("digest") it.
So I would use acetone + patience instead of some special chemical cocktail.
Hot glue will come off with ethanol. Epoxy adhesives will require special chemicals, patience and will usually not react with acetone at all.

You can buy acetone pretty cheap at most big hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowes in the paint department. I don't remember the price but it is not expensive. It comes in quart or gallon cans