Why did you have to smash it with a hammer? Wasn't it flakes to begin
with? If it was clumped up, there may have been something wrong with
it (moisture?) to begin with.

Unheated, shellac does take a long time to dissolve, IME. Sometimes a
couple days to become completely dissolved, with some intermediate
shaking and stirring. But if it's still a gloppy mess after four
days, that's not normal. Try heating it in a pan of hot -- not just
warm but almost boiling -- water for an hour or two. I find that's
the best way to dissolve it.

(As I'm sure you now, alcohol fumes and an open flame are a bad
combination, so you want to do the heating with a hotplate or on an
electric range, or boil the water and turn off the gas before putting
the shellac in the pan.)

On 28 Dec 2004 11:16:18 -0800, "
wrote:

I'm trying to use Shellac flakes for the second time and am having some
trouble. The first time I used it they dissovled after about three days
without much fuss, but this go-round I've got a big blob of gelatin at
the bottom of my bottle that I can't get to dissolve. Here are the
facts of the case:

* Bought blonde dewaxed shellac from Woodcraft on Thursday
* About an hour later, I smashed it to smithereens with a hammer and
added it to brand new alcohol (in a well sealed plastic bottle, also
from Woodcraft) in a 2# cut
* I tried adding it to the alcohol slowly and letting it dissolve, but
it just sat at the bottom and stared at me desipte repeated stirrings,
so I dumped it all in.
* The bottle is a very well sealed glass jar with a rubber grommet and
a metal latch - no chance of moisture getting in that I can see.
* I put the bottle in a bath of warm water to speed the reaction
* Come back four days later, and there's goopy shellac gelatin on the
bottom, maybe about a quarter of the original volume, undissolved. I've
spent the last couple hours breaking it up, warming it, shaking it, and
repeating, and it's still just gelatin--the undissolved portion hasn't
changed much.

Is this shellac no good? Should I return it? Did I blow it in step 3 by
being impatient? I still have another bottle of flakes in the fride and
I don't want to screw up another batch.

Thanks,
George

-- jc
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