Mixing shellac

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Guy in Paradise

New User
Guy Belleman
For some reason I have trouble making a 2 lb cut mixture of shellac. The many directions say a 2lb cut is 2lbs of shellac flakes in a gallon of alcohol. So, I don't need nearly a gallon so I reduce down the recipe to 4 ounces of shellac in 16 fluid ounces of alcohol and the dewaxed flakes never fully dissolve, even after daily shaking and two weeks. I hate to just filter out the good shellac that didn't dissolve. Last year I just doubled the alcohol and got it all to dissolve, but I guess that would make a one pound cut. What am I missing here? Help appreciated.
 

Tarhead

Mark
Corporate Member
Try some gentle heat. Put the container in a pot of hot water. If the flakes don't dissolve after this they may be past their use by date or your alcohol may be contaminated with too much water. I've switched to 190 proof. It works better than DNA and there's no funky stuff in it.
 

bluedawg76

New User
Sam
Although alcohol is hygroscopic (i.e. absorbs water), the water contamination is probably low ~5% or less which shouldn't significantly alter it's ability to solubilize shellac. dna which is 10-40% methanol (and the remainder mostly ethanol) vs. 95% ethanol (i.e. 190 proof) won't really make much difference in solubility, though DNA will evaporate a bit faster and of course contains a lot of MeOH. You could always test with fresh dna or bekhol, but I doubt this is the problem, ymmv. i had some blonde shellac flakes that have this problem. funny thing for me was that I had bought some garnet shellac at the same time, and it doesn't have this problem, which was a good indicator it was the shellac and not the solvent. not much you can do except get new flakes.
HTH.

Sam
 

PeteM

Pete
Corporate Member
Try pulverizing the flakes before adding the alcohol.
I use an old coffee grinder or you can just put some in a plastic baggie and pound them to smithereens!

pete
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
You're shellac flakes are 100% dewaxed from a reliable source. Correct? So they should be pretty good if they've been stored properly, but they do have a finite shelf life relative to temperature and humidity.

The "cut" definition is weight/volume and that's the key to the confusion. So an existing 2 lb cut diluted with an equal volume of 190 proof is less than a 1lb. cut by 33%, but it's close enough for most uses so don't fret over that.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/mixing-shellac.aspx

Pulverize 4 oz. shellac flakes to a powder as best that you can. Take a kitchen blender and add about 1 quart of 190 proof (Everclear). Blend continuously at high speed like there's no tomorrow. The blending will generate some heat too, which will help the powder to dissolve. If you're satisfied let it settle for a bit and then carefully decant the upper layer into a container and leave any sediment on the bottom.

BTW, shellac is listed as food safe by the FDA and it's used in many products for human consumption so you're not trashing the margarita blender!
Cleanup with plain old BORG DNA and/or household ammonia solution. Rinse, dry, and sneak it back into the kitchen pantry. :eek:
 
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