At last I got some shellac flakes; had to buy them from a drugstore. The label reads “lemon shellac” but nothing about the wax. I mixed them with ethilic alcohol (96°) 230 ml/56gr, and got a dark brown mix. I let it rest for a day so the wax settles, with no visible difference. Try to strain the mix with a coffee’s filter and only got 20 ml before the filter clogs.
Help me please! What can I do?
Horacio
Replies
You don't mention your location in your profile. Just curious as to where drugs stores would carry shellac flakes.
What is your intended use for the shellac? While there are a few applications where the wax can cause problems, for many perhaps most, uses the wax doesn't represent of problem.
I am NOT a finisher so take my words with a pound or two of salt.
I have used both non-wax and common shellac on projects and, as far as I know, have never had a failure with a finish.
Most of my finishing problems are MINE alone. Nothing to do with the Shellac.. I think!
I've found that when dissolving flakes, it can take a very long time if the flakes aren't crushed or ground before adding the alcohol. It will also require frequent stirring. Also, if you're making a very heavy cut, they can take a long time to dissolve. I've found that a good cut for my skill level is about 1-1/2 to 2 pounds of shellac per gallon of alcohol. I use a coffee grinder to grind them. Luckily shellac is non-toxic, but I still do my shelllac grinding in secret so my wife doesn't know.
Lemon shellac is usually hand made in India. Has a dark amber color. and won't be clear, is fairly wax free but may contain fiber and other waste. A coffee filter is too fine, try cheesecloth. It would be interesting to know where you live. Pharmacists use shellac as a coating for pills, although I don't know any who make pills anymore. Interesting that you can buy pure ethanol there, too.
Well, I live in Mexico's City.
Steve: I'm going to use the shellac to finish a bed frame made out of spanish cedar (cedrela odorata); but I was thinking about overcoating the shallac with Minwax waterborne polycrylic. The shellac for sealing the bleeding, and the Minwax to make the finising more durable. It's this ok?
Will: you are a finisher, maybe not a professional finisher but a finisher nontheless. That's why I'm here, asking for your experience since I have zero.
Quickstep: I don't have any problem about dissolving the flakes, they were gone in a couple of hours; but the mix looked kind of...wrong...after straining a little amount with a coffee filter, it looked like the photos in the magazines, but the filter clogged very fast.
I had to explain to "she who has to be obeyed" what I was doing on the kitchen top with the coffee filter; when I got to the point of where the flakes came from...well, you can guess.
Hammer1: I'll try cheesecloth. About the flakes, after looking for them at the places my grandfather used to buy them (all those places closed down), got them delivered to my door along with beeswax, carnauba wax and candelilla wax for a very good price.
I was very surprised to find ethilic alcohol so cheap and at the pharmacy.
Thank you guys.
Horacio
Wax could give you a problem if you over coat with a waterborne acyrlic finish. But, if you have an non-polyurethane oil based varnish available to you, any remaining wax would be of no consequence as far as adhering to the shellac. In addition, the oil based varnish would be more durable than the waterborne acyrlic. It could be applied as a wiping varnish for ease of application.
Horacio,
If it were me, I would order some shellac flakes from a reputable source rather than using something on your bed frame that doesn't look right. You can order shellac flakes from Woodcraft (http://www.woodcraft.com), Lee Valley (http://www.leevalley.com), or Rockler (http://www.rockler.com). As Steve mentions, if you are going to use what you have under another finish, any wax in it may cause adhesion problems. It's easier to order the right thing than have to remove the old finish first. Post a picture when you're done with the project.
Jim
Jim, you left out my favorite source: Homestead Finishing (Jeff Jewitt's web site). He has excellent articles there, too, about the versatility of and application techniques for shellac Let's see, he has a new URL.....
http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/
Horacio,
Being it came from a drugstore, the shellac you got probably wasn't meant for furniture finishing. Shellac in various forms has other applications, although most of the other uses are now forgotten in a high tech world. I would follow the advice you have already gotten and track down shellac meant for furniture finishing.
Steve: I can get phenolic and alkyd varnish; wich one is better?
Jim/John: I tried to get some flakes from Rockler, but it's been almost a month since I order them and there has been some issues with the mail.
Forestgirl: thanks for the new link, great site!
John: Do you think that the quality of the flakes I got is not good enough for finishing, should I try them before?
Thank you guys and lady.
Horacio
Phenolic varnish is tougher and more moisture resistant--but it is also darker and tends to "yellow" more over time. Two US brands are Behlen Rockhard (with linseed oil as the oil ingredient in manufacturing the varnish) and Waterlox (in three gloss levels, and using tung oil ), Alkyd varnishes tend to be lighter in color, especially when manufactured using soya oil. On a bed project, the differences in toughness or moisture resistance are likely to be irrelevant. Either would work just fine. Alkyd brands in the US include Pratt & Lambert 38 or Cabot Varnish (8000 series, not their Polyurethane.)
Horacio,
If it's been a month since you ordered the flakes from Rockler, call their customer service number and ask them to track the shipment and find out what the problem is. If local mail is a problem there, you might consider spending the extra money to have them send it via UPS or FedEx.
Yes, you should always test your finish on a piece of scrap wood before you apply it to your project. Make sure that the wood is the same as what you are using for the project and sand or plane it to the same degree so you can see what it will actually look like when it's applied.
Jim
What you have sounds like it is a very raw unprocessed shellac, not one that is typically used for furniture finishing, so you should definitely experiment with it before applying it to a your project.
Steve: thank you for the info, now to work.
Jim: in fact rockler re-send the package via UPS and today I got a note, because I wasn't at my place.
Jim/John: thanks, I'll let you know how this weird shellac turns out.
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