Best Alcohol For Making Shellac - French Polishing Fundamentals Part 3

[@bigdteakettle8989]

I decided to find Everclear for my solvent and I'm glad I did. When I bought this bottle of Everclear it was really cheaper than what the denatured alcohol was that I had to order. I learned to use shellac in the early 70s when I was in high school woodworking. Back then we had a great selection of ready to use shellac products. I live in the Texas panhandle and now, in 2024, premixed shellac is almost as scarce as hen's teeth. The big box stores are selling finishes that look like wood is covered in plastic. That is OK for countertops or table tops but when I spend money for figured wood I want it to look like wood and not plastic.

[@caseylaan8069]

I'm glad you mention the concerns about denatured alcohol and the methanol in it. I'm in Canada and DNA is not quite outlawed but impossible to find, instead hardware stores carry methyl hydrate and say it's the same. It's pure methanol. Ended up getting some "shellac thinner" from Lee Valley that's almost pure ethanol (95%), with some non methanol denaturing agents. Mohawk makes a similar product. Other options to look for if everclear is unavailable is perfume alcohol, or "rubbing alcohol compound". Some manufacturers where rubbing alcohol is labelled like this it is actually 95% ethanol, you'd just need to check the label to see if it's ethanol or isopropyl.

[@lousekoya1803]

Thank you Sir , new sub here from Quebec !

[@linuxbowling]

I just found that you can get 99.97% (200 proof) ethanol from USA Lab. It's expensive (1 gallon for $80 bucks which includes the 27 per gallon excise tax) but it's as pure as you get, and it has no odor. I am loving this video series, thank you so much for your time.

[@onehandedmaker]

Wow. a joy to watch your guitar making videos. I am a new fan. Your workshop makes a great backdrop in the videos as well. Always inspiring and I admire your imagination to keep coming up with great ideas. Well done. One Handed Maker - Australia

[@soverignhuman5862]

Thanks Tom ,your a rock ⭐

[@paulkemner829]

I used Behlen Behkol as a shellac solvent when I was building furniture. Large pieces I sprayed with an HVLP sprayer, and you don't want to spray the cheap denatured alcohol unless it's outdoors, and/or you're wearing the proper respirator. Apparently Mohawk is making the Behkol formula now. Maybe it's less expensive since you're not paying the booze excise tax.

[@E-BikingAdventures]

What do you mean by Paler" colour with isopropyl? Do you mean clearer, more yellow than orange, less translucent, more opaque?

[@davidlee2822]

Hi, Very, very helpful. I live near Birmingham, Alabama. Ever Clear is available here. But, there are 3 bottles that they sell that look like yours, each with different proofs. One proof was very high, like 198%. What proof of Ever Clear am I supposed to buy? What exactly does your bottle say? Thanks much! I appreciate you. David Lee

[@roywoltz319]

I would not use denatured alcohol. Several years ago I used to denatured alcohol to thin and spray a shellac product I wore a a respirator and covered all my skin. I could smell it though when I sprayed. I ended up getting methanol poisoning, spent 4 months in bed.

[@TheArtOfLutherie]

Wow, that is crazy! Thanks for sharing. I had a similar experience with spraying Nitro that I talked about in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4bUdIuVi8qojqs

[@vernonknight5827]

My Doctor said you can take a swig of Acetone and it won’t hurt you…It’s a lot like Everclear!

[@boblob2003]

I prefer pure grain alcohol / Everclear for mixing up shellac... but it's not available everywhere. The bonus is they give me "that' look" when I ask for it at the liquor store! ;-)

[@TheArtOfLutherie]

🤣 I know what you mean, I used to get nervous when I went to buy it lol.

[@cmkaco]

@@TheArtOfLutherie They don't sell it in the state where I live, but they do where my uncle lives, so I asked him to get me 4 bottles. Of course, they gave him the look, and they asked them what he was going to do with it. He told them the truth, that it was for me, and that I make instruments. They said they had heard a lot of BS stories in their time, but that was the best. The asked him to please not drink the grain alcohol, and actually gave him a nice 6-pack of beer for free.

[@joeyoungs8426]

I have a question for anyone with insight. I’ve finalized the FP on a guitar and I’m wondering how long to wait before I glue the FB and bridge on? I’m concerned too soon and wiping excess glue will harm the shellac. This did happen to me on the last guitar as apparently a couple days wasn’t long enough. I’ve considered outlining the edges with low tack tape so when the glue squeezes out the majority ends up on the tape and I just carefully peel the tape and I should have minimal wiping to do. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[@TheArtOfLutherie]

Hey Joe, I wait at least one week before gluing the bridge. I don't use tape because that brings with it another set of dangers. While the squeeze-out is wet, I use a little scrap of wood binding material with an angled end on it. I put a layer or two of wet paper towels around the tip to help remove the glue and to help as padding so that it does not mark the top. I constantly change out the paper towel as it becomes saturated with glue and change it to a fresh part of the same towel, or a new paper towel. The shellac, even after a week, is not much harder than the spruce itself, so you have to be mindful of that and be gentle as you remove the glue. The water and the paper towel do the work, and I don't press hard at all. I just go over it as many times as I need to while the glue is still wet. Hope that helps!

[@joeyoungs8426]

@@TheArtOfLutherie Thanks for the tips. The binding with paper towel was solid advice and worked perfectly. Unlike last time I did as you suggested and didn’t rush it and let the wet paper towel do the work. It took longer to clean up but in the end was the perfect recipe. This classical guitar was an experiment in using redwood as a top. Unlikely I would use it again as it is VERY brittle and unforgiving. Not a great combo for a novice on their second guitar. I also found that redwood, like spruce, does not like super glue. I definitely found cedar to be much easier to work with. Thanks again for chiming in with excellent advice.

[@disqusrubbish5467]

@@joeyoungs8426 Brittle indeed. Ok, my 2 cents - I never use super glue on a musical instrument. If you do, be especially careful in places like the rosette where it will wick up into the open grain and can spoil the look around the rosette. You can't sand it out since it's too deep.

[@joeyoungs8426]

@@disqusrubbish5467 Very true and thanks. Luckily I’ve never needed to use superglue around the rosette as I creep up on the outer diameter and use a warm iron to make the rosette pliable. My use of superglue was in a few spots where the redwood chipped out routing the binding/purfling channel despite having used a gramil. It’s clear the cut wasn’t deep enough but the annular rings in redwood are very hard to cut and that was the few trouble spots. Luckily the couple repairs ended up looking like wood flaws rather than a hack repair job even though that’s what they are. Next time if there is one I’ll use glue or shellac to make the repair.

[@j-sincopeytargetsmasher3781]

Gasline antifreeze

[@disqusrubbish5467]

Yes, Hawaii is one of those places that wants to protect you from making shellac... I end up using the 91% Isopropyl and it's not the best.

[@TomDanaher-u9o]

The Peoples Republik of Kalifornia doesn't allow the sale of anything over 150 proof.

[@TheArtOfLutherie]

Some of my French Polishing students have had great results with this stuff, it might be available in CA, but I am not sure: culinarysolvent.com/collections/200-proof-food-grade-ethanol/products/200-proof-alcohol-for-hobbyists

[@tdnate]

They have also outlawed denatured alcohol. What's a guy to do?

[@TheArtOfLutherie]

@@tdnate Maybe this would work for you? www.lmii.com/finishes/58822-shellac-solvent-200-proof-culinary-ethanol-16-ounces.html

[@tdnate]

@@TheArtOfLutherie Awesome!! Thanks!

[@roywoltz319]

buy it Arizona