Shoutout to the library archive that showed me how much shellac recipes have changed

I was looking through some old trade journals from the 1950s at the central library downtown... they had a recipe for a 4-pound cut that called for a full ounce of beeswax per pint. My modern mix uses maybe a quarter of that. Anyone else run into these old formulas and tried them out?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_pat1mo ago

That old formula would probably gum up a spray gun.

robin83619d ago

Right? Did you ever get that weird, stringy goop in the can? I had to strain mine through a paint filter like it was spaghetti.

umab351mo ago

Ugh, tell me about it. I tried spraying some old deck stain last summer and it was a total mess. The nozzle kept clogging every five minutes. I spent more time cleaning the gun than actually painting. Had to thin it way down with mineral spirits and even then it was a fight. Stuff like that makes you want to just throw the whole can away.