Thread: Old shellac

The shellac at 20 years old is probably well and truly zonked out unless it has been stored in cool dark conditions.

Most regular shellac flakes will leave a slight residue when mixed but mostly it's a combination of dirt and a minute bit of shellac

If the solids look like soggy Corn Flakes the shellac is all but useless.

If you are using cheap methylated spirits from the supermarket even good shellac won't dissolve properly.

Ideally you need to use Industrial Methylated Spirits (IMS) aka Ethanol, with either 95% or 100% alcohol sold as 95% IMS or 100% IMS mostly only available from good paint shops and Mitre 10.

The stuff in the supermarket can have up to 47% water in it (from memory that's about right) as it only has to be over-proof: ie will burn if a flame is put to it.

If you put a little mineral turpentine in with your meths and shake it and the mixture goes even slightly cloudy or milky then it contains water and may not be any good for dissolving shellac. Even if it does work and you use it you may get bloom (a milky look) when it dries.

At 20 years old I'd be throwing it out and buying some new shellac. The new stuff will dissolve quickly and work really, really well.

General mix is 3lb shellac to 1 gallon of meths Roughly 220 gm to 1 litre of metho.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil