Replies

1. 
   pins | Aug 22, 2006 05:19pm | #1

   I have never filtered shellac, but I do allow the wax to settle and then
   gently pour the clear shallac off or just dip my brush in the clear without disturbing the wax.

   John

2. 
   Anon | Aug 22, 2006 08:52pm | #2

   I have taken a really large tea strainer with pretty large holes and set a coffee filter in it, folded down so the strainer holds the whole filter, then poured the shellac through it. Take it slow, it's kind of jury-rigged and the filter can fall in on one side or the shellac can overflow. Also after a quart of liquid goes through it is just about fallen apart. But the filter gets thrown away and the strainer gets cleaned off, so it's cheap. It also helps to let the shellac settle as much as possible first: the more it has settled the less of the bad stuff you don't want gets poured into the filter.

3. 
   HowardAcheson | Aug 23, 2006 12:06am | #3

   Why are you filtering it?

   It's not a very effective way of removing wax. Gets less than 50% of it according to some folks.

   Howie.........
4. 
   SteveSchoene | Aug 23, 2006 12:07am | #4

   I just strain it through one of the cone paint strainers available at any paint store--even the borg.  This gets the little pieces of foreign matter--mostly from  packaging. Filtering through coffee filters is to remove wax--I suppose it works but it has always seemed less reliable than buying it that way, and slow. 

1. 
   coolbreeze | Aug 23, 2006 03:41am | #5

   I want to strain it because there is almost always debris when flakes are disolved. I am using orange shellac. It looks like muddy water but there is definately some debris in the bottom that needs removal,

   I have used the commercially available cones and a "tea" strainer. Neither was very good. With a 3# cut, bothe will shut down soon.

   Still looking for that "magic" process.

1. 
   forestgirl | Aug 23, 2006 08:56am | #6

   Give a try with one of the "permanent" mesh coffee filters.  Kinda gold/brass-looking mesh that you can wash and re-use forever.  I tried one for lacquer when spraying laste year and it worked well.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 

1. 
   coolbreeze | Aug 23, 2006 03:28pm | #7

   Forestgirl, can you buy one in a department or general merchandise store? Do you remember a brand name?

   My coffee maker is a Braun and has a permanent filter. My Wife and I are really happy with it and I would'nt want to try to use it even though it could be thoroughly cleaned. Also the mesh is very fine. I have some of the commercial "cone" filters and tried it with a 3# cut and it did not work at all. The mesh is much larger than my coffee filter. I have since decided that I want to use a 2# cut but I doubt that the viscosity is substantially less.

    

1. 
   forestgirl | Aug 23, 2006 08:04pm | #8

   I bought mine at Safeway in the coffee aisle, just because I was there.  The mesh isn't near as fine as a regular disposable coffee filter.  I'll see if I can find the brand name later today.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 

5. 
   Bouboubomber | Aug 23, 2006 08:11pm | #9

   23 years as a chemist , working in the lab everyday.

   I filtered about 1 Litre of 3# shellac, it was without a doubt the worst thing I have ever filtered. However, I filtered it on a pad of celite and did not wait for the wax to settle, the gummy wax competely clogged the celite pad, spent about 1 hour scratching it to get it to flow through. On the other hand, this technique gave me completely dewaxed shellac! Actually, i checked on the web after, there are 2 industrial ways to dewax shellac that i could find, centrifuge , which is more or less the equivalent of letting it settle for 3 days, but a lot faster and better recovery or low temperature where the wax becomes a britttle solid instead of sticky goop making it easier to filter. I am sure thats not what you wanted to hear, Lee Valley recomends cheese cloth.

1. 
   Rich14 | Aug 23, 2006 10:46pm | #10

   If this thread is strictly about filtering shellac, as Steve recommended, the best way is to use a paint strainer cone. This traps any foreign matter and a pretty high percent of the wax. Usually several cones are needed to filter a quart.

   If the thread is about wax removal, the most effective way (darn close to 100% removal) is to extract the wax with an organic solvent.

   Mix the shellac/wax with a volume of mineral spirits or naphtha about equal to half the volume of the shellac/wax. Use a plastic squeeze bottle with a pointy cap spout and a plastic cap on the tip of the spout.

   Shake the shellac/solvent mixture vigorously, producing a milky-white emulsion. Let the bottle stand overnight, capped, pointy-spout down. The mixture will separate with the clear shellac on the bottom, the wax in the milky solvent above.

   Squeeze the clear shellac out the downward-pointing spout until the milky solvent/wax layer almost starts down into the spout, and stop. Throw the solvent/wax away. Wash out the bottle a few times with a mixture of alcohol and mineral spirits.

   Rich

1. 
   forestgirl | Aug 23, 2006 10:50pm | #11

   Personally, I opt for letting Zinsser do it for me. ;-)forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 

1. 
   Rich14 | Aug 23, 2006 11:23pm | #12

   FG,

   When I lived in Hawaii, I had no choice. I could not get dewaxed shellac at all for a long time. Now living in Northern Arizona, I find that I have even less choice of such products available to me!

   Having learned to dewax shellac, I've just continued to do it. But if it were readily available, I prolly would just buy it.

   Rich

1. 
   mike4244 | Aug 24, 2006 02:02am | #13

   You can buy dewaxed shellac flakes from several websites. Do a google search, I buy from a lot of different outfits,but can't remember offhand where I buy shellac flakes.The outfit I bought from has almost every shellac,from garnet to clear ( they call it white) shellac.All the grades are dewaxed, just add denatured alcohol.

   As far as straining goes, only strained paint. Use a kitchen utensil for straining cans of vegatables. It has a fine mesh cup with a wire handle. When done straining paint, I clean the strainer with a shop towel to get most of the paint off,then put the strainer in the proper solvent. I leave the strainer in the solvent til i have time to clean it further.Sometimes I have to poke the mesh with a finish nail to get paint that hadn't dissolved.

   mike

2. 
   Bouboubomber | Aug 24, 2006 08:12pm | #14

   Very cool. Looking forward to trying it in the lab. Next time I was going to try to cool the solution to -78 degrees (in dry ice) and filter. But yours seems just as good. Are you doing this with a shellac solution with the alochol not being miscible with mineral spirits, or doing it with the flakes, where the shellac turns to oil and flows out?

3. 
   Bouboubomber | Aug 24, 2006 08:34pm | #15

   Never mind, once i lern to read i can see the answer was there already:

   "Mix the shellac/wax with a volume of mineral spirits or naphtha about equal to half the volume of the shellac/wax.

   See the alcohol used to dissolve the shellac IS an organic solvent. And all the other organic solvents i have in the lab are  all miscible with ethanol, therefore you could not separate the wax, but i just checked the composition of mineral spirits and it will separate from the ethanol, yeah  i'll try it next time

    

1. 
   Rich14 | Aug 25, 2006 03:32am | #17

   Sorry. I should have said, "extract the wax from the alcohol/shellac/wax solution/mixture with a petroleum distilate such as . . ."Rich

   Edited 8/24/2006 8:34 pm ET by Rich14

1. 
   coolbreeze | Aug 25, 2006 05:11am | #18

   Thanks to each of you for your reply. I have several options as suggested in the thread. I will try one or more or I will participate in Zessners bottom line.

   May all of your decendants be born naked.

6. 
   outyonder | Aug 25, 2006 12:41am | #16

   a simple way to try would be to strain threw panty hose.

7. 
   NDTLuthier | Oct 02, 2020 10:45pm | #19

   Timing is off. I hope this will help someone later on. Here what I did to remove wax from shellac:
   1. I put 2# cut in warm bath water. Heavy wax settle on the bottom faster than at room temperature. However, light wax still floats around in between clean shellac and settled wax.
   2. 1st round filter: cut out a filter from Old T-Shirt to remove big stuff.
   3. Cut another filter larger than coffer filter from the t-shirt, use sawing needle to tie 4 or 5 strings (2 in length) around the edge of the filter. Tape the strings around a jar so that the edge of the filter is inside the edge of the jar. Put 2 pieces of coffee filters on top of t-shirt filter. Pour the shellac mixture to almost filled up the filter. Tie the lid on the jar. The shellac will drip in the jar without losing alcohol.
   4. If the shellac is still cloudy, replace the coffee filter paper, and filter again. I successfully removed wax to get clear shellac solution after 2 rounds of using coffee filter.