Measuring shellac flakes

[Anthony Whitesell]

What or how do you go about measuring your shellac flakes?

[Jason Beam]

SOOOO not an expert as i've never actually done it - but i hear folks mention kitchen scales. I've also heard grinding 'em up with a coffee grinder helps 'em dissolve quicker.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I purchased one of the Rockler kits for some blonde shellac (the only one they sell that is dewaxed) and ground the flakes in a coffee grinder. I presume they we completely dissolved in a few hours (in 2 hours there was just a translucent sludge on the bottom of the container). But I can't say exactly how long it took, I went to bed.

I can't find dewaxed orange shellac in anything less than a pound.

I found a kit at Highland Woodworking to make 10oz of 2# cut, but it costs $30 (including alcohol and shipping).

[Jim McFarland]

Kitchen or postage scales to be more accurate, but before that...I separated the 1# package by volume in 8 approximately equal "piles" on some white butcher paper. I put each "pile" in a separate Ziploc bag so I can mix 1 pack with 8 oz denatured alcohol to get a small amount of 2# cut shellac. I store the unused portions in a larger bag and store in refrigerator crisper (garage fridge so LOML doesn't object!). I'm sure the separation by volume isn't exact but I don't think the mix has to be that precise, anyway. I also don't know for a fact that storing in the fridge helps (or hurts!) shelf life but I read it somewhere and I'm a sucker for such odd-ball techniques.

[Sonny Edmonds]

...I don't measure snow flakes either.

[Neal Clayton]

What or how do you go about measuring your shellac flakes?

easier to measure the alcohol to match the shellac than the shellac to the alcohol. i get my shellac in 1 pound bags so just pour out half of the alcohol into a spare can and add it all.

[Tom Veatch]

Is there any advantage to mixing your own dewaxed shellac rather than using Zinsser Seal Coat?

Generic Type – 100% dewaxed shellac-base sanding sealer. It is manufactured using a patented process that guarantees long-term stability and shelf-life. The absence of any wax in SealCoat makes it compatible with all clear finish topcoats including oil-base polyurethanes.

[jerry cousins]

i use a small postage scale - put a mason jar on the scale and zero it out - 16 oz's of denatured alcohol to 4 oz of shellac (i use an old coffee grinder to pulverize the flakes) makes a 2# cut.
jerry

[James Phillips]

I use a coffee grinder to grind mine and then measure by volume. When it is in small pieces this is fairly accurate.

[Michael Panis]

Since flakes are sold be weight, when I get a new jar of flakes, it has the weight listed on it. I then measure the volume and write the volume on the jar. From then on, I can get whatever amount I want by scaling by the volume/weight relationship.

---Mike

[Marcus Ward]

Go to ebay and type in digital scale and find one of the cheap 12 pound jobs. They measure to the gram, are inexpensive, and are handy for measuring brewing ingredients. What? You say you don't homebrew... why come on over and let me introduce you to a lovely hobby....

[Larry Fox]

I use a little kitchen scale, fairly accurate I suppose. It is just a ballpark anyway, I am certainly not adding / removing individual flakes. I mix it at a ratio of about 2-cups alcohol to about 1 oz shellac.

[Frank Drew]

Is there any advantage to mixing your own dewaxed shellac rather than using Zinsser Seal Coat?

For a finish coat, I'm assuming yes.

[Joe Cunningham]

Is there any advantage to mixing your own dewaxed shellac rather than using Zinsser Seal Coat?

The quality of the finish is, in my experience, much better with flakes. If you just use shellac for sealing, then likely not much, UNLESS the zinsser has been sitting on the shelf for a long time.

[Steve Schoene]

Yes, the flakes you mix your self are fresher, liquid shellac starts esterizing as soon as it is mixed. It is true that the processing of Seal Coat makes it stay usable longer after it is made than shellac mixed by you. Besides Seal Coat is basically a "dirty" blonde shellac, not as light as super blonde or ultra blonde, or as interesting as garnet or lemon shellac. But Seal Coat does do OK, it's not a bad product.