Shellac mixing -- small quantities?

[mando andy]

I want to shellac my wood bindings prior to staining and want to mix up a small amount of the flakes with the alcohol. I also want to mess around on pieces of scrap wood with using shellac (french polish).

Any tips for measuring or rules of thumb for mixing up less than a pint?

Much appreciated--my first mando is getting there!!!

Andy

[labraid]

You could measure out 1/2oz flakes and mix that with 1/4 cup alcohol. If memory serves well, that was my basis. Serves enough for two complete mando french polishes.

[Mario Proulx]

I always mix teenie-tiny "batches". Just eyeball it. Put some flakes in your container, add enough alcohol to cover them, and let it dissolve. Once ready, if too thin, add a few flakes, or step outdoors, and light it on fire for a few seconds to burn off some alcohol(outdoors!) (and extinguish by capping it) but most likely, it'll be a bit heavy, and simply adding more alky will bring it anywhere you want it to be.

[Rick Lindstrom]

8 oz of alcohol and 1 oz of shellac is equivalent to a 1 lb cut.

I use a 1/2 lb cut as a sealer; that would be 1/2 oz shellac to 8 oz. of alcohol.

The measurements don't have to be exact- ballpark will do it, and if you don't like the consistency just add more shellac or alcohol until you get i the way you want it.

Rick

[amowry]

I weigh it, but just because I have a scale handy and it's a convenient way for me. I grind all my resins in an old coffee grinder so they dissolve faster. Makes the coffee taste funny, though.

[JEStanek]

Andrew, something about that coffee would bug me. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

I'll remember this should I ever actually build my IV kit.

Jamie

[Spruce]

Yeah, eyeballin' it works fine...

I've been using some nice darkish flake that I got off e%#y, and mixing it with some Everclear from Winfield Kansas.....
Works great for an aged-looking/feeling Fender neck....

[Gail Hester]

For French polishing, I mix a two pound cut of 1/4 cup alcohol and 15 grams of shellac. That gets thinned as I add alcohol to the pad as I'm working.

[Dave Cohen]

12 grams of flakes (using a postal scale) dissolved in 100 mL of alcohol (using a garden variety kitchen measuring cup) gives a 1 lb cut. I find that 100 mL gets used up fast enough that I don't have to worry about it going bad.

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