the following is taken from the Briggs training video on the briggs power portal. ========================================================= 1. Ethanol fuel contains up to 10% alcohol that is made from corn products. 2. The ethanol fuel contains less energy than non ethanol fuel. (I don't know if you will notice this in a mower engine.) 3. The alcohol in ethanol fuel attacts moisture. The moisture in gaskets, seals, fuel line, and other carburetor parts is absorbed by the alcohol. These items will require more frequent attention to keep the engine going. Carburetor corrosion is more likely with this fuel. 4. The alcohol in the ethanol fuel contains oxygen that leans the fuel air mixture in the cylinder. This causes hotter exhaust temperatures. Briggs recommends that no more than 75% of available power be drawn from the engine. This means the engine can still run at full governed rpm, but the tall grass that causes the governor to fully open the carburetor throttle should be avoided. 5. Ethanol fuel does not enjoy a long life. The alcohol can separate from the regular fuel. 6. Fuel systems should be drained or run dry when the engine will be stored. 7. Briggs has taken the position that ethanol is here to stay and we have to adapt to this fuel. Engines can be redesigned to better tolorate ethanol. (redesign will increase engine prices)

I ended up buying this exact model and I am so happy with it. My dishes have never been so clean, I'm absolutely loving the third cuttelery rack and there is a real level of satisfaction having the top of the line model offered, and the quietest and most energy efficient dishwasher on the market for much less than the top of the line Miele. One example of what blew me away, during the holidays I made a ham with a orange/maple glaze (Cook's Illustrated) and the saucepan I used to make the glaze had that burnt hard coated sugary stuff on it, you know the kind of thing that you soak for days or scrub with a steelwool. Anyhow I had zero expectations for this to get clean in the dishwasher, in fact the only reason I put it in the dishwasher was so that I wouldn't have to deal with it right away, I was essentially hiding it. Anyhow, my first load of using this dishwasher finishes and myself and everyone of our guests was blown away when this thing came out spotless, I knew I made the right decision then and there.

This is an interesting thread... The story of Brazil's ethanol policy in the 70's is very interesting... and has much more to it than is portrayed here. When I was doing my MBA, we had a large contingent from south america in the class... some from Brazil... and a few from the energy industry there. They went pretty deep into the dynamics with all of us. I thought you might be interested. I'll try to keep it short: The above thread is correct that the dictatorial mandate for ethanol production, distribution, and use in the 70's laid the foundation for today's ethanol success... but it also caused many, many troubles for their economy, and actually set their ethanol use back 25 years. I realize that statement is a strange conflict... but both are true. In the 70's, auto technology and production was not to the level it is today... and dual-fuel and "flex-fuel" vehicles were not available in mass. So, when the price of oil was extremely high in the 70's, Brazil's gov't pushed mandates for independence through ethanol... and everyone went out and bought ethanol-run autos, which helped develop the industry and infrastructure. The problem, of course, was that oil prices did not stay high. When oil prices tanked, Brazil's consumers were stuck with ethanol, though the production of it was dropping since it had to compete with very low oil prices... and profitibility suffered. This eventually created shortages of ethanol there, and it became extremely expensive and scarce. Consumers were understandably pretty upset about it since their cars couldn't run on the cheap gas that was now prevalent. So, to make a long story a bit shorter, Brazil's people became disenchanted with ethanol, and converted largely back to gas until new government initiatives again pushed ethanol in the late 90's, with new autos that ran on either gasoline -or- ethanol (flex-fuel) to help ease consumers' anxiety of a repeat situation of the 70's. Consumers gradually warmed to the idea, and in the past 4 years use has been skyrocketing. This is, of course, aided by Brazil's perfect sugarcane growing environment... which as was pointed out earlier here, has an efficient conversion to ethanol. My buddies from Brazil say mini-plants have been springing up everywhere in the countryside... similar to how cotton gins formerly speckled the mid-west US... in every small town. One of these guys told me a story about him driving through a very rural area recently to check out some farmland his family was planning to purchase for an investment. He was just driving along when he looked down and noticed his fuel gauge was almost on "E". He'd driven ~40 miles since the last fuel station... and didn't know how far it was until the next would come along. So, he stopped at what he called a "very run down... scary bar" to ask where the nearest fuel stop was. Well, as you can probably guess, there was no station within ~40 miles (converting from kilometers)... and he knew he couldn't make it that far... so, he purchased some jugs of locally brewed alcohol from the bar (sorry I don't remember the name of the stuff, but it's everclear-like and very popular in Brazil). He said he very nervously poured this into what happened to be a flex-fuel auto... and drove without problem to the next fuel station ~60 miles away. Disclaimer: don't try this at home, kids... This is second-hand, but direct from some very trusted and well educated friends. Cheers. and BTW... I'm very much pro-ethanol as a bridge to hydrogen fuel cells. Don't know if corn on a mass scale is viable using current technology, but I do know that sugar cane from Brazil would be.

There is a reason why French polishers charge a fortune, and this is it. A very difficult and time consuming process to master. Cabinet finishing and polishing apprentices require years to get this right in the U.K. There are many different colors of shellac. Knowing which one to use and achieving the deep mirror like finish requires the building up of many many PERFECTLY applied coats. Personally, I think this is not one for DIY, especially with a valuable antique as your guinea pig. Just my opinion.