My shellac looks like gravy

[TrevorMag]

All the YouTubers' mixes look like super transparent golden syrup or cognac or some other delicious foodlike substance.
Could be a dud batch, but the smart money says it's because I used Bunnings Meths.
All the online advice says "denatured alcohold 96 or 98" - can't seem to find that in Hobart.
Look online perhaps?

[ozziebluesman]

Sounds to be like you shellac flakes, granuals, beads or what ever dry form you used is old stock or it have been subjected to moisture so your brew has not dissolved correctly. If it is a milky colour that's your problem for sure.
Good luck.
Merry Christmas
Alan

[kiwigeo]

The meths you get from Bunnings will contain a certain amount of water as well as a denaturing agent. What you're after is Industrial Methylated Spirits or IMS meths. Carbatec carry the stuff and there are a few other sources. https://www.carbatec.com.au/metholated- ... industrial

If your made up shellac is going gooey also check the flakes you're using are fresh...the stuff does have a shelf life.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Martin you are right as well.
Is it ok if I make a suggestion where to buy the shellac?
https://www.thewoodworks.com.au/shop/co ... gms-detail
This is what I have use for a while now and it is great, Store the dry shellac in the fridge.
Cheers
Al

[kiwigeo]

Is it ok if I make a suggestion where to buy the shellac?
https://www.thewoodworks.com.au/shop/co ... gms-detail
This is what I have use for a while now and it is great, Store the dry shellac in the fridge.
Cheers
Al

Yes of course no problem with suggestions for sources of materials. Thanks Al.

[56nortondomy]

I bought 100% metho from paint spot, i don't think they all stock it but some do.
Wayne

[joel]

I did a bit of research into shellac this year.

Problem:
Shellac flakes that won't dissolve, or dissolves into gloopy mess, or won't dry hard.

Cause:
Oxidised shellac flakes. This is especially a problem for de-waxed shellac, it appears the natural wax in shellac slows the rate of oxidation.

Solution:
Store flakes in Nitrogen or CO2. You can buy Nitrogen in a can to spray into polyurethane and lacquer cans to stop them filming over and drying out. I'm a homebrewer I have plenty of CO2 and use that.
If you have old large flakes, you can crush or pulverise them to expose un-oxidised shellac. That will help dissolve the old flakes, but it depends how far gone they are.


Problem:
Milky or botchy finish

Cause:
Water in the mix

Solution:
Use new alcohol (or metho). Now, some of the old books I've read say that a good finish can be achieved with anything higher than 80% alcohol!!! I don't know about that, but I do know that modern manufacturing means that our regular metho is of pretty darned high purity to begin with. All alcohols are hydroscopic - they absorb moisture from the atmosphere until they hit their aziotropic equilibrium. For ethanol and methanol that's approx 95% alcohol / 5% water. This is unavoidable with out chemical drying agents. You can spend the extra to buy "100%" pure ethanol, but the moment you open it up it's going to dilute itself to 95% rather quickly.


If you really want to chemically dry your alcohol at home, you're in luck! Epsom salt is a "hydrous" salt in its normal form - it's one Magnesium Sulphate ion with seven H2O's. Yep 7 - heptahydrate. You can bake Epsom salt in your oven at 150 degrees C for a few hours to drive off 6 water molecules to create monohydrate Epsom Salt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium ... onohydrate. The result is a chalky white powdery substance. Chuck this into your metho. It will absorb the water, but not the alcohol. Result = 100% pure alcohol, no water. Of course the problem is now filtering out the very fine powder you've got in your alcohol. Personally, I'll just buy a new 1L metho from the hardware store and use that, secure in the knowledge that its 95% pure alcohol with only just enough adulterant added to meet the legal requirements to stop idiots from drinking it.

[kiwigeo]

Some good information being posted...thanks.

[TrevorMag]

Thanks to all, some good suggestions here I'll follow up on

[Jim watts]

Are you sure your shellac is dewaxed?
I tend to use Kusmi buttons which are not dewaxed, it looks like a milky caramel color until I separate the wax out by filtering it though coffee filters a few times after it's dissolved.
You might try filtering it and see what it looks like.