‘Twas the day before Christmas
Alone in my shop
Two gifts needed finishing
And time was diminishing
Ah, Michael P showed the way
I’ll do that this day
So off to the stack, Got a can of shellac
“Stir well before using” oh that is amusing
No time for that, I’ll give it a shake
Oh my gosh, now that’s a mistake
On to the bench, screwdriver in hand
Just a wee little pry, the lid reached for the sky
Shellac on my bench, some tools and my vest
I’ll leave it to you to imagine the rest.
I figured some bubbles didn’t matter as I was putting it on with a cloth, they would break up, but I didn’t think of the pressure that would build up. So stir well means put a stick in the can and move it around.
Replies
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What happened? I shake shellac all the time. The bubbles disappear right away. I've never had pressure build up in the can.
Dig the poem. I use a lot of shellac and have never experienced this. I think something else was involved.
Can was probably sealed cold and opened warm. Shaking put liquid at the seal to spit out. Next time burp the seal before the shake to equalize the pressure.
I'm sure I have done it before too, without a problem. I may have shook it longer and more vigorously this time. Was listening to Classic Christmas Rock and Brenda Lee might have been rockin' around my Christmas tree. Didn't take long to become a really sticky mess.
Hmm. Definitely not an expert, but I read that once the shellac flakes have dissolved, it wont come out of solution. They just sometimes dont want to dissolve and you get a mass at the bottom. Shaking before use doesnt help dissolve more, just stir up the solids. Only evidence I have to support that is that rattle can shellac doesn't have marbles inside to promote agitation as does rattle can poly or lacquer. I'm willing to be educated
I know that i have read about shellac having a shelf life and old cans of it bursting after being on the shelf for a long while. Maybe the shaking was only setting something off that would have happened in the near future anyway.
It most likely wasn’t the shaking that caused the issue. It most likely was already pressurized before you shook it. I’ve read that sometimes a fermentation process (don’t know what causes this in shellac) happens in shellac and this will create a pressure resulting in what you experienced. I’ve had shellac cans spontaneously blow resulting in shellac all over the inside of my storage cabinet. The cabinet is in a basement location where the temp is a constant 65 degrees so it wasn’t due to heat. I now cover my shellac cans when opening them, just in case. Also periodically opening the cans help prevent the pressure build up. Hope this helps.