What's up with my shellac?

M Toupin

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This is the first time I've used shellac flakes so I'll profess ignorance here. I bought some garnet shellac flakes and mixed them to a 2lb cut. After 4 days of soaking and regular shaking this is what I have after it settles for about 12 hours. Is this normal? or is something strange going on? Is this the wax? I understand flakes are not normally dewaxed and the wax will settle out, but I was expecting somewhere in the 5-10% range. If this is normal how should I proceed now? use it as is and give it a good shake up or use only the clean liquid on top? Forgive the ignorance but this is all new to me.
shellac.jpg

Mike
 
[size=+1]That does appear to be a lot of wax, and perhaps with a little water in it, too.

Where did you get those flakes?

What alcohol did you use?[/size]
 
I've always used sealcoat in the past, but I wanted the dark color so I decided to try the flakes. My first go round doesn't seem to be going well. :( The flakes came from woodcraft and I used denatured alcohol from a fresh can bought at the blue borg. Should I try another batch or will it settle out? I'm open for suggestions at this point.

Mike
 
I've always used sealcoat in the past, but I wanted the dark color so I decided to try the flakes. My first go round doesn't seem to be going well. :( The flakes came from woodcraft and I used denatured alcohol from a fresh can bought at the blue borg. Should I try another batch or will it settle out? I'm open for suggestions at this point.

Mike

[size=+1]It'll settle out quite a bit over the next several days, if you don't disturb it. Then you can carefully pour off the wax-free portion from the top.

But... Do you really need the de-waxed? If you're using it as the final finish - topcoat - then using it with the wax still in it will be okay.

If you're using it as a sealer, and putting something else over it, then you've gotta de-wax it. Even then, you may have adhesion problems.

You can get de-waxed garnet flakes, you know. Homestead Finishing has them. Actually, I thought Woodcraft did, too.[/size]
 
I don't need it dewaxed as I intended to use the garnet shellac as the finish. I had planned on spraying coats until I got to the shade I wanted and then finish it off by padding. Should I try another batch or just shake this up and use it? If it's ok to use as is, I assume I want to strain this first right?

Mike
 
I don't need it dewaxed as I intended to use the garnet shellac as the finish. I had planned on spraying coats until I got to the shade I wanted and then finish it off by padding. Should I try another batch or just shake this up and use it? If it's ok to use as is, I assume I want to strain this first right?

Mike

Shake what you've got up, then filter it, and try it on a sample board. If it dries okay, then go ahead and use it. If it stays tacky, then discard it and try again.
 
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