althoughthis may sound like an arsonsists festival does anyone know where i can buy (online) surgical spirit that DOESN'T have castor oil in it. I use the stuff for a multitude of things but having successfully gummed something delicate up with the castor oil element...

i know that meths is the same stuff but it has other nasty ingredients that i don't want.

 could i substitute isopropanol (which seems easy to purchase as tatooists use it) instead. could i use isopropanol in a meths stove without burning down something like myself?

i found the stuff in spain, but as i had opened the sealed plastic container i didn't dare put in my luggage.

Well, according to the Aldrich catalogue, here are the relevant figures for the two fuels:

Ethanol
mp -90C
bp 26C
fp 9C

2-propanol (isopropanol, (CH3)2CHOH)
mp -68C
bp 28C
fp 12C

So, on the face of it, it looks like they should burn with a similar vigour; their boiling and flash points are pretty close.

Agreed but some of your data is way out. Especially the BP's:-

Ethanol 78C

IPA 82C   

d'oh! that'll teach me not to do a 'does this make sense check' before I posted.

I foolishly assumed that, since they quoted FP in fahrenheit, that all the figures were in F.  But they aren't; they're in Celcius.  So:

Ethanol: mp -130C, bp 78C, fp 8C

2-Propanol: mp -90C, bp 82C, fp 11C

Since 2-propanol is bigger and has more C, I wouldn't be surprised if it burns a bit sootier.