how to know if shellac is de-waxed

[Dave Macy]

Got a can of shellac from a neighbor. How do I know if this is de-waxed or not and how do I know what pound cut it is? I'm hoping to get down to a 1lb cut and color it with some coffee transtint but final coat of waterlox as a varnish.

Thanks
20170219_134325.jpg20170219_134321.jpg

[Marty Schlosser]

Go onto the Zinsser website and you may be able to find out?

[Dave Macy]

Thanks - I was hoping to learn to read the labels so I know how to figure this stuff out.

[Phil Mueller]

You could also stir it up and fill a glass jar about half way. Wait awhile. If it has wax in it, the wax will settle to the bottom as a thick milky substance. If those are sealed unopened/refilled cans, I would assume they have wax.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dave,

Look at the red oval on this can of Zinser's Sealcoat:

sealcoat.jpg

[John TenEyck]

If it doesn't say dewaxed or wax-free, it's not. AFAIK, only SealCoat and their rattle can shellac are dewaxed.

John

[Rob Young]

If it doesn't say dewaxed or wax-free, it's not. AFAIK, only SealCoat and their rattle can shellac are dewaxed.

John

The aerosol is dewaxed.

SealCoat is dewaxed.

Amber and Orange in the can contain some (but not much) wax.

The aerosol is going to be a lighter cut probably between 1# and 1-1/2#

SealCoat is a 2# cut from the cans smaller than 1 gallon. There used to be an option for gallon and 5 gallon in the "regular" and a higher pound cut. Not sure if still available.

Amber and Orange are a 3# cut from the cans up to a gallon. Again at one gallon, you used to have the option of the 3# or a 4#.

The cans used to be marked somewhere in the verbage on the side as to the pound cut.

[John TenEyck]

AFAIK, SealCoat is only 2#, in any size. FWIW, you can buy 2, 1 gallon cans of SealCoat from HD for $76 with free in-store pickup, which I call the best bargain there is in shellac.

John

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I buy my SealCoat at a local Ace Hardware too.

[Rob Young]

AFAIK, SealCoat is only 2#, in any size. FWIW, you can buy 2, 1 gallon cans of SealCoat from HD for $76 with free in-store pickup, which I call the best bargain there is in shellac.

John

Double checking the company page, this looks to be the case. However the "regular" stuff is still listed as available in 4# in the larger sizes. But I've never seen anything larger than a gallon can in the store and I don't think I've ever seen them marked any differently. Special order perhaps?

TDS (technical data sheets) for all the products don't list the pound cut, which I find strange. Is it still in the fine print on the cans?

And two interesting things reading the SDS and TDS for the aerosol version. They list acetone as a solvent on the TDS. And on the SDS, it lists what could be as high as 50% acetone with LP gas as the propellant. The no-smoking lamp is lit...

$76/gallon seems like a good price. I've only ever purchased quart cans because I just don't go through that much at a time. You read the horror stories of can failure but I've never experienced it. Nor have I had the small quantities go bad on me.

And I don't like their naming conventions, their "clear" looks like the stuff I get when mixing amber flakes (the ones just a smidge darker than super blonde) and their "amber" looks more like what I get from "orange" flakes. Color is subjective!

[Rob Young]

I buy my SealCoat at a local Ace Hardware too.

The Ace Hardware stores in my town (2 of them) don't carry SealCoat but they do carry the clear and amber waxed variety along with the aerosol. However the TruValue franchise store does have SealCoat. My local Home Depot doesn't stock it in my town but will order (see John's post above). The Menard's in town does stock all four and in multiple sizes up to a gallon. No Lowes.

Heck, I've even seen the aerosol version at WalMart!

[Prashun Patel]

Dave-
I'm a fan of Sealcoat for many things.

However, given that your goal is to apply a dye and then top coat with waterlox, why don't you just skip the shellac?

Just dilute your Transtint in water or ethanol, apply it, then topcoat directly with Waterlox. Shellac isn't going to help much. Because the Transtint won't really lift when you apply the Waterlox, the shellac isn't required to seal in the dye.

[John TenEyck]

Double checking the company page, this looks to be the case. However the "regular" stuff is still listed as available in 4# in the larger sizes. But I've never seen anything larger than a gallon can in the store and I don't think I've ever seen them marked any differently. Special order perhaps?

TDS (technical data sheets) for all the products don't list the pound cut, which I find strange. Is it still in the fine print on the cans?

And two interesting things reading the SDS and TDS for the aerosol version. They list acetone as a solvent on the TDS. And on the SDS, it lists what could be as high as 50% acetone with LP gas as the propellant. The no-smoking lamp is lit...

$76/gallon seems like a good price. I've only ever purchased quart cans because I just don't go through that much at a time. You read the horror stories of can failure but I've never experienced it. Nor have I had the small quantities go bad on me.

And I don't like their naming conventions, their "clear" looks like the stuff I get when mixing amber flakes (the ones just a smidge darker than super blonde) and their "amber" looks more like what I get from "orange" flakes. Color is subjective!

It's two gallons for $76 !

John

[Rob Young]

It's two gallons for $76 !

John

Twice as nice!

Using shellac.net prices, 1 gallon of 190 proof DNA, $34.36, 3# of super blonde $116.70 and $17.55 shipping works out to $168.61/gallon.

Switching to DNA from the hardware store saves about $15.

Switching shellac suppliers (can't find my cheat-sheet right now, but I know of two other small quantity sellers) should save about another $50 because shellac.net seems to have prices nearly as high as Woodcraft and BT&C (Tools For Working Wood).

[glenn bradley]

Zinsser Clear is not dewaxed. Zinsser Seal Coat is their dewaxed shellac product.