Thread: New finish on the market: white dewaxed granulated shellac

Hi Ern,
Maybe you could still use Neil's Shellac.
The Woodies down here clean out a Cask Wine Bag.
You put your contents in put the Tap back in, hold the Tap open, squash all the air out, till the Liquid is at the top, & close the Tap. No Air, No Loss.
It works a treat with Danish Oil, that does the same.
Regards,
issatree.
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Yeah, exhausting the oxygen from a container has extensively been canvassed here issatree. A bladder is one solution of sorts - but you still have to drink the carp in the cask or waste your money by pouring it down the drain.

Ern, The money you waste on the cask wine (about $5) will be quickly offset by being able to keep a cheap finish (shellac) for a longer time.

Or you could use it in you cooking, the wine that is, not the shellac....

Or you could use it in you cooking, the wine that is, not the shellac....

decanting is an option also.

Ern there is no such thing as a bad wine.

Just some are better than others.

Is that in direct relation to the strength of the headache the next day.
Mick

rsser There's a few really good reasons why we don't sell it like that (and we could if we wanted to)

1. the granulated white shellac can have a very short shelf life if not properly stored at a constant 4degC. I once had 6 x 25kg bags degraded in just one day due to a heatwave and storage failure. Imagine how quick a 100gm bag or even a 1kg will degrade sitting on a shop shelf
2. buyer has no idea how long the shellac has been on the shelf and what condition it's in. You don't find out till it's mixed and contains jelly.
3. People almost never follow the instructions to the letter when adding the hardener or measure it wrong or add it to the wrong strength of shellac, etc, etc, then blame the seller not themselves.
4. some of the granulated white shellac also needs a plasticiser added to stop crazing
5. you need to buy shellac, hardener, 100% absolute alcohol or 100% IMS (ethanol) and also plasticiser if needed.
6. all ingredients need to be in intimate contact for a week before the shellac can be used
7. Costs more to make your own per litre than to buy premixed
8. premixed should be made from fresh, properly stored, shellac that had no jelly and thus isn't degraded in any way.

I know for a fact that people have already had problems mixing it themselves and this info comes from our importer/supplier who also supplies WWB&T. Problems are not only with the shellac but also (and more importantly) with the addition of the hardener

The basic idea and principle of selling it that way is good but.......

If shellac hasn't been improperly stored you will get fair percentage of jelly in the mix which does degrade the liquid shellac somewhat. Some people actually think this is normal. I've even seen articles saying to strain it off.

Wrong.... this does degrade the shellac somewhat as it's an integral part of the shellac. It can be incorporated into the mix with heat but this is inherently dangerous especially if you don't have the right equipment and more particularly due to the very volatile nature of the pure alcohol.

Storing it in the fridge after you buy it will stop it degrading more but won't repair it if already degraded from sitting on the shelf for months, not been refrigerated, has been through a hot spell, etc

Degraded shellac with jelly in it will have a shelf life of around 9 - 12 mth properly made white or hard shellac should have a shelf life of around 2 years. We give ours 18mth to cover ourselves but it should be fine for up to 24 mth. We also put a best before date on the bottles. So in theory our premixed shellac has a longer shelf life.

I could easily sell the additives to harden all shellacs but won't because of the end user problems. Have encountered it before with this and other products and it just isn't worth the hassles and problems associated with it.

Cheers - Neil

PS Not trying to flog our stuff, just shedding a bit light on making your own, versus buying ready made.

Thanks for the run-down Neil. Appreciate it.

I've been mixing my own shellac all my working life, and while I can tailor it to specific jobs (I can make a polish that I buff and antique with the palm of my hand and a another, hard and tough polish for dining tables that even steel wool won't cut back), mixing your own recipes, as Neil says, is not as cost effective as buying good quality pre-mixes.

I have several kinds of dry shellac here that I have used recently on some jobs, but I bought one of Neil's 500ml bottles of White Shellac a while ago and it really is good stuff and good value.

If you're unsure of the complete workings of shellac, you'd be at least half daft not to use a product like U-Beaut's pre-mixed shellacs.

I've been mixing my own shellac all my working life, and while I can tailor it to specific jobs (I can make a polish that I buff and antique with the palm of my hand and a another, hard and tough polish for dining tables that even steel wool won't cut back), mixing your own recipes, as Neil says, is not as cost effective as buying good quality pre-mixes.

I have several kinds of dry shellac here that I have used recently on some jobs, but I bought one of Neil's 500ml bottles of White Shellac a while ago and it really is good stuff and good value.

If you're unsure of the complete workings of shellac, you'd be at least half daft not to use a product like U-Beaut's pre-mixed shellacs.

Good post Woodwould - Not because of the u-Beaut reference, but because most people don't realise there's a mystique and near science that surrounds using shellac, the different types and applications, not to mention the almost alcamy of mixing the many different brews for a variety of finish types. Then there's the myriad of of other uses shellac can and has been put to over the years.

As a kid (about 6 yr old) I remember the man next door melting down broken 78 records in metho for me and using the extra dark brown shellac to paint a billy-cart made from a fruit box and old discarder bearings.

Cheers - Neil

I wasn't criticising the quality or convenience of Neil's product; have a bottle of Hard Shellac on the go ATM and it saved my bacon with some bowls that were sweating resin.

Being able to mix small batches as needed would save me money since this will likely be the 2nd bottle to end up as sanding sealer. But I take Neil's point that mixing from granules is not as simple as painting by numbers.