Canada. Our Lowes and Home Depot do not have it. Amazon.ca does but I'm not willing to spend $127 on shipping, and amazon.com isn't shipping to Canada right now it looks like. Pre-pandemic I would have just popped down to Bellingham but crossing the border isn't an option right now.

Denatured alcohol is our drinkable alcohol (ethanol) made undrinkable by adding poison to it, basically. So, you could always try some Everclear Vodka. Everclear 190 is 95% alcohol, and is available in Canada at Craftcellars, whatever and wherever that is, lol. I'm sure it is available other places, hopefully one near you. There are other Everclears with lower percentages of alcohol.

Another possibility is Perfumer's alcohol, which is ethanol denatured with Bitrex, which is a super bitter tasting substance. You may be able to obtain it from a pharmacy. I'd try a compunding pharmacy, if you know of one near you. Or you can order it here: https://www.saffireblue.ca/shop/perfumery-alcohol/ I didn't check to see how cheap it is there, just to see if it's available in BC. Further searching found it on Amazon here for $29.62/quart, plus $14.94 shipping. Hope that's $cdn.

I journeyed through the wilds of Reddit to find that, lol. What did we do for entertainment and to obtain random pieces of knowledge before the internet? Well, I read the encyclopedia every time I went in to look something up, not lying.

This is a wonderful thread. Thank you Glenn. I despise pin rash so I avoid any machine that has an ugly rag around the arm. Most of my old Singers are in very good condition but I would love to make them look shinier using your French polish method. I'll try it on a machine that's in poor condition first. What about using spray or wipe-on polyurethane? I have some newer machines on which the clear coat is coming off. Is shellac always the best product or would polyurethane be better for newer machines?
Has anyone seen the restored sewing machines for sale on eBay by a seller named 3fters? Their old black machines are as glossy as when brand new. I wish I knew how they do it. Do you think they use shellac or something else?https://www.facebook.com/commerce/pr...ured_shop_card
https://www.facebook.com/commerce/products/102-years-old-singer-66k-lotus-f7989971-sewing-machine-restored-by-3fters/2552801948149632/?ref=timeline&referral_code=mini_shop_profile_feat ured_shop_card

Glenn,
thank you for sharing. hoping you would share what cut you used for your shellac. i feel like i saw it in another thread, but cannot find it now that I am ready to use it :)

Glenn
 

With sincere sadness and a broken heart, I inform you that Skip (Glenn) passed away on June 13th. Glenn's passing was quite quick and unexpected. He went into the hospital for knee replacement surgery and apparently died from a resulting blood clot.
No services are planned. Family is all in the area. Please keep his wife Pat in your thoughts and prayers.

We are still going to have our Alabama TOGA this year, to celebrate his life and love of sewing machines. If you are interested in joing us on August 3-5, please join our Facebook group. Thank you, Maria

My sympathies to Glenn's family and friends. His advice and encouragement on sewing machine restoration will be missed.