OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

269169 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑09‑08 shellac
One of the guitar grandmasters just posted this about making shellac.  I just
got through making a 6 month supply, but will try it next time:



The best way to speed up dissolving shellac is the 'tea bag' method. Measure out
the amount of dry shellac you want to use, and tie it up in a cloth bag. I find
T-shirt fabric works well. Suspend the bag near the top of the jar so that it's
just touching the alcohol. The denser dissolved shellac will settle to the
bottom, pushing the alcohol to the top. The resulting circulation does the
mixing for you. If you're using seedlac the wax particles will be too large to
get out of the bag, and will stay there, along with all of the dirt and bug
parts, so you've filtered and de-waxed it at the same time. you can get a usable
concentration of shellac in a couple of hours.



Ed Minch

Recent Bios FAQ