Bullseye Shellac

[Steve Doerr]

I purchased a quart of the clear Traditional Finish and Sealer. (The big boxes nolonger carry the Sealer Coat.) It is not dewaxed and was wondering if there is an easy way to dewax it. I placed some in a glass jar and noticed how a large amount of “sediment” settled to the bottle of the jar. I’m thinking the sediment is the wax. If I strain this through a piece of fine woven fabric will the shellac that goes through the cloth be dewaxed?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Steve - everything I have read on de-waxing says that the filter method only removes a very small portion of the naturally existing wax. Seems the only real thing that works is to buy the de-waxed version. I also had trouble finding the de-waxed stuff and finally located it at Ace Hardware a few years ago. Since then, seems I find it just about everywhere. Check with hardware and paint stores... I would think someone would carry it.

[Prashun Patel]

The spray cans of bullseye are dewaxed.

you wont remove all the wax, but you can remove enough to make it usable in place of dewaxed. Dont filter. Let it sit in the refrigerator. That will force more precipitation. Then decant or siphon off the top layer.

of course this may be the excuse you always needed to start using flakes. Thats the good stuff.

[John King]

Big Box store in my area (Home Depot) still carries Zinsser Bulls Eye SealCoat Universal Sanding Sealer. It's 100% wax-free shellac. Says so on the can. - John

[Paul Hinds]

... of course this may be the excuse you always needed to start using flakes. Thats the good stuff.

+1 on that. I used to use the canned stuff but started using flakes several years ago and have never looked back. A few coats of the dewaxed stuff and even cocobolo will take a polyurethane finish.