\n| \n Shellac Solvent:
\nGrain Alcohol vs. Denatured Alcohol<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\nBob Miller explains why you should head
\nto the <\/span><\/span><\/em>local liquor store before mixing
\nand applying your next <\/em>shellac finish.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nShellac is a wonderful finish with a fantastic<\/span>
\nrange of applications and possibilities. It can<\/span>
\nrange from an easy utility finish all the way<\/span>
\nup to the finest of fine polished finishes.<\/span>
\nHere is a way to make your shellac finishes<\/span>
\nbetter and easier to use. This gets a little<\/span>
\nscientific, but stick with me, it\u2019s worth it in<\/span>
\nthe end.<\/span>
\nIt is very important to think about the<\/span>
\nsolvent used to dissolve the shellac. Most<\/span>
\npeople simply use commercially available<\/span>
\n\u201cdenatured\u201d alcohol. Denatured alcohol is<\/span>
\na general alcohol-based solvent used for a<\/span>
\nvariety of applications across many<\/span>
\nindustries. Mixed with shellac, it will<\/span>
\nproduce a serviceable finish. However, it has<\/span>
\nsome problems when it comes to shellac.<\/span><\/p>\nFirst, there is no industry regulation<\/span>
\nregarding what precisely constitutes<\/span>
\ndenatured alcohol. This means that some<\/span>
\nbrands are cut with water to increase their<\/span>
\nvolume, often by as much as 20%.<\/span><\/p>\nSecond, is that there is no way of knowing<\/span>
\nwhat kind of alcohol was used to produce<\/span>
\nthe product. Some brands contain methanol,<\/span>
\na cheaper, more volatile, and dangerous<\/span>
\nform of industrial alcohol that can be used
\nto <\/span>bulk up the volume of solvent. This<\/span>
\ninconsistency makes it difficult to predict<\/span>
\nthe behavior of the shellac both as it<\/span>
\ndissolves and as it dries as a finish.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/td>\n <\/p>\n In short, denatured alcohol is an<\/span>
\nunpredictable, dangerous, unhealthy, poor<\/span>
\nquality solvent for shellac that will make<\/span>
\nyour finish harder to use as well as shorten<\/span>
\nyour life. Don\u2019t worry though; I have a solution.<\/span><\/p>\nPrior to Prohibition here in the United<\/span>
\nStates, woodworkers would have simply<\/span>
\nmixed their shellac with a high proof, grain<\/span>
\nderived alcohol that contained a minimum of<\/span>
\nwater. It was only after Prohibition that all<\/span>
\nof these denaturants were added to make<\/span>
\nindustrial alcohol undrinkable.<\/span>
\nIf you\u2019re looking for a pure, consistent<\/span>
\nsupply of high-strength alcohol that<\/span>
\ndoesn\u2019t contain this spectrum of<\/span>
\nchemicals, think about the bottom shelf at<\/span>
\nyour local liquor store.<\/span>
\nEverclear and Diesel are two brands<\/span>
\nof nearly pure alcohol that contain less<\/span>
\nthan 5% water. They are commercially<\/span>
\navailable in most states and are the perfect<\/span>
\nsolvent for shellac, with no denaturant and
\na <\/span>minimum of water.<\/span>
\nOnce you switch to pure alcohol for your<\/span>
\nshellac you will wonder how you ever got<\/span>
\nalong with denatured alcohol. Pure grain<\/span>
\nalcohol will dissolve your shellac more<\/span>
\nsmoothly and will build your finish more<\/span>
\nquickly. So, take a trip to your local liquor<\/span>
\nstore and pick up some solvent, give it a try<\/span>
\nwith shellac, and see what you think when<\/span>
\nyou\u2019ve used a traditional solvent for your<\/span>
\ntraditional shellac finish.
\n<\/span>Bob Miller is a custom furniture maker
\n<\/em><\/span>and woodworker based in the Charles <\/em><\/span>neighborhood of Boston.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nNote: <\/em><\/span>Everclear 190 is not available in all states.
\n<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See below.<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n‘Everclear 190’ <\/strong>is a 190 proof Ethanol<\/strong>.
\n<\/span><\/span>Everclear 190 Grain Alcohol is currently banned i<\/strong>n <\/span>14 states<\/strong> that have ruled <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>190<\/span> Proof Everclear Is Not Legal
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>(2023) include:<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong>California – <\/span>only 151 proof available
\n<\/strong>= 75.5% alcohol & 24.95% water<\/span>
\nDistrict of Columbia
\nFlorida
\nHawaii
\nIowa
\nMaine
\nMaryland
\nMassachusetts
\nMichigan
\nMinnesota
\nNevada
\nNew Hampshire
\nNew York
\nNorth Carolina
\nOhio
\nPennsylvania
\nVirginia
\n<\/span>Washington
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em>Everclear, (less than 190 Proof) available in the states above <\/span>IS NOT Recommend for use as a solvent for shellac<\/span>.
\n<\/strong>190 Everclear is a brand name of rectified <\/span><\/span>spirit (also known as grain alcohol and <\/span>neutral spirit) produced by the American <\/span>company
\nLuxco (formerly known as the <\/span>David Sherman Corporation).
\nIt is made <\/span>from grain and is bottled at 60%, 75.5%, <\/span>94.5% and 95% alcohol by volume (120,<\/span>151, 189, and 190 U.S. proof respectively).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/td>\nEverclear 190 proof <\/strong>(5% distilled Water)<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/span>A good Solvent for making Shellac
\n<\/em><\/span>is legal in 36 states.
\nStates where ‘Everclear 190’\u00a0 Is Legal
\n<\/span><\/strong>(as of 2023)<\/em><\/span>
\nAlabama<\/span>
\nAlaska<\/span>
\nArizona<\/span>
\nArkansas<\/span>
\nColorado<\/span>
\nConnecticut<\/span>
\nDelaware<\/span>
\nGeorgia<\/span>
\nIdaho<\/span>
\nIllinois<\/span>
\nIndiana<\/span>
\nKansas<\/span>
\nKentucky<\/span>
\nLouisiana<\/span>
\nMississippi<\/span>
\nMissouri<\/span>
\nMontana<\/span>
\nNebraska<\/span>
\nNew Jersey<\/span>
\nNew Mexico<\/span>
\nNorth Dakota<\/span>
\nOklahoma<\/span>
\nOregon<\/span>
\nRhode Island<\/span>
\nSouth Carolina<\/span>
\nSouth Dakota<\/span>
\nTennessee<\/span>
\nTexas<\/span>
\nUtah<\/span>
\nVermont<\/span>
\nWest Virginia<\/span>
\nWisconsin<\/span>
\nWyoming<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is no industry regulation regarding what precisely constitutes denatured alcohol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-additions","category-data-sheets","category-shellac-flake","category-16-id","category-1-id","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2913"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2999,"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913\/revisions\/2999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shellac.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} | | | |