Shellac shelf age

After deducing that Mosins were finished in orange shellac, I thought I'd give it a try on one of mine that was missing some large patches, really looked tatty. Knowing absolutely nothing about shellac and it's supposed limited shelf life didn't deter me in the least, of course. Since I never throw anything away, especially old cans of paint, I looked on the shelf and sure enough there was a pint can, felt about half full. So back to the shop it went, shook it up thoroughly, and pried the lid off. As soon as it started to release, the lid removed itself, with quite a bit of violence, scattering shellac all over the place and me, as if the can were pressurised ( which of course it was).
Most of the shellac stayed in the can, but looked like a pot of water on astove doing a slow boil, or simmering, hundreds of little bubbles coming to the surface, which finally subsided after a few hours.
It was still a liquid, so what the hey, let's see if it works. Brushed it on the stock, went on smoothly enough, dried in an hour or less, and looks just fine. Nice semi- gloss finish, looks just like my original Mosins.
The can is over 20 years old!
So-- does shellac age or not?

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Originally Posted by bob4wd

So-- does shellac age or not?

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Not in the way that, say, paint in the tin goes off- shellac finishes over a century old can be polished up with an alcohol-moistened rag to remove fine scratches. And as you have seen, it performed quite satisfactorily when you applied it to the stock.

But you were handling a can not of shellac, but shellac solution - i.e the flakes dissolved in (presumably) alcohol.

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Originally Posted by bob4wd

...shook it up thoroughly...

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That appears to have been the mistake. The shaking turned the contents into an alcohol-vapor powered shellac aerosol.
If you had simply prised the lid off and stirred the contents, it would not have happened.

I have a bottle of shellac flakes, I occasionally mix a bit for the odd job, great stuff, these flakes were my fathers, probably older than me, but kept free of moisture and not mixed and shaken, that bottle will probably outlive me.

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Originally Posted by Patrick Chadwick

Not in the way that, say, paint in the tin goes off- shellac finishes over a century old can be polished up with an alcohol-moistened rag to remove fine scratches. And as you have seen, it performed quite satisfactorily when you applied it to the stock.

But you were handling a can not of shellac, but shellac solution - i.e the flakes dissolved in (presumably) alcohol.


That appears to have been the mistake. The shaking turned the contents into an alcohol-vapor powered shellac aerosol.
If you had simply prised the lid off and stirred the contents, it would not have happened.

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Makes sense to me! So you're saying that shellac (in solution)does NOT spoil/turn bad/lose it's qualities while in the can? I agree, certainly, borne out by my experience, but i've read many times (on this forum, too) that it spoils so rapidly that the cans are even date- marked and to be sure and buy only the freshest. I searched my local hardware stores and have yet to find any kind of expiration date on any can. So what am I missing here?

You're missing the fact that some people tell furphies.:madsmile:

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Originally Posted by muffett.2008

You're missing the fact that some people tell furphies.:madsmile:

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OK- so what does that mean?

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Originally Posted by bob4wd

OK- so what does that mean?

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Don't spit the dummy for my asking, but you haven't been loitering about much with any Aussies, have you?

BTW, furphies are not fair dinkum. (Which to me still usually sounds like "fardingham", but I'm probably even more unintelligible to most Aussies!)

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Originally Posted by jmoore

Don't spit the dummy for my asking, but you haven't been loitering about much with any Aussies, have you?

BTW, furphies are not fair dinkum. (Which to me still usually sounds like "fardingham", but I'm probably even more unintelligible to most Aussies!)

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Aaaaand that clarified things?

NOT everything you read is TRUE!

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Originally Posted by muffett.2008

NOT everything you read is TRUE!

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Ain't that the truth! Especially on the internet!