Silvan wrote:


Should I start with a big cut and subdivide it? The only shellac
I've used
so far was the Bullseye stuff, which was a 3# or 4# cut out of the
can. I
mixed it about 50/50 for my working batch, and then used the brush
cleaner
jar as a thin wash coat later on, once it got some shellac dissolved
in it.


Shellac begins to deteriorate as soon as it is disolved in alcohol
and continues to degrade until it is used and all the alcohol has
evaporated.

As the degredation process is slow but continuous and varies
with temperature and possibly impurities in the mix it is
impossible to say how long the shellac will stay 'good'
after it is mixed.

So the general reccomendation for best results is to ony mix as
much as you will use on your current project, assuming that you
will do all the finishing over a reasonably short time frame
like a couple of weeks.

As to safety issues I agree that there is no reason to suppose
you could not clean the jars adequately for later use for food,
but why reuse them?

A more important safety consideration is that glass jars break
easily, and the mixed shellac is inflammible (also flammible
;-0 ) which is one reason why most solvents are sold in metal
containers, not glass. That's another reason to not mix large
batches.

--

FF