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Does anyone use paper coffee filters to filter shellac after mixing?

Bob

I use drip coffee filters but there has to be a quicker way, so I am interested in what others do also.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
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Yep. It's messy and slow. Use a wide-mouth jar and have a number of filters handy. They clog up pretty quickly. I do this procedure outdoors. Surely there's a better way. Cheese cloth?

I use 3 layers of cheescloth.
Or one layer of an old cotton t-shirt.

Mike

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Mike Collins

We used one of these in the Brune French Polishing class a couple years ago. I got one and it seems to work fine, but I've only mixed up shellac a handful of times.

http://www.amazon.com/Wine-Decanting-Fu ... B00069KQJ0

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I haven't tried it yet but I read somewhere to wrap the flakes in tee-shirt material before inserting into alcohol. Seems like all the filtering would be done for you when you pull out the tee-shirt. I'm going to try it next time.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Save your coffee filters for the coffee pot. Go to the nearest auto paint distributor (for me that's NAPA) and get yourself some paper auto paint filters. Very cheap.

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Jim Womack

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. "
Will Rogers

Can you use them for making coffee?

Paper paint filters for me too. I think I got mine at a pro paint store.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

You can use de-waxed shellac, but I'm convinced the raw stuff is better.

You can de-wax it in two stages: make a "tea bag" of t-shirt material and tie it up, suspend it in a wide mouth jar of alcohol for a day or so, depends on your alcohol and room temp. Pick out the swollen bag and the shellac is mostly wax-free, but let it sit for a day and "decant" it into a clean bottle, leaving the remainders in the original jar.

Mostly I just throw my Kusmi seeds into a square shouldered glass bottle of alcohol, and decant off the clear stuff. It sometimes takes several decantings to get super clean stuff, but I like playing with the shellac.

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Pantie hose and nylon stockings.

blessings
Padma

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.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I use coffee filter paper (clipped to a disposable cup.) Got mine @ $.06 a piece. Then I put a small can upside down on it during filtering. It usually takes overnight or more.

me too.

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Walter Lay
"It's taken me so long, but now that I know
I can see. All that I do or say, is all I ever will be"
- Billy Joe Shaver

What is the purpose of filtering it? Just to clean out any type of sediment? or is there another reason?

I have not filtered mine at all. I've been using the flakes from LMII, and have seen no sediment or other impurities in it. However, if you are using raw shellacs, they require filtering, to remove wax and impurities like bug parts, etc.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Same here, never felt the need to filter it even with the darkest variety, however I always used dewaxed. I will soon switch to button and that will need filtering. I read too about dissolving it in a cloth bag suspended in the alcohol.

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Build log

I believe Al Carruth uses that method.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I line a funnel with 3 layers of cotton tee shirt.
The LMI Super Blonde has a wee bit of sediment; this method seems to clear it up.

I just use a paper towel. One sheet will fit into the jar mouth and it filters fast and easy.

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Cheesecloth or paper paint filters with that cheesclothy stuff at the bottom. I start with dewaxed flake.

Will a coffee filter remove all the wax from the not-dewaxed stuff?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

It works for the waxy shellac I got from lmii and seedlac, but the wax in my given super-thin orange flakes is too fine for coffee filters. It is so fine that take a couple of months to fully settle.

I tried coffee filters with a batch of button lac, it was very hard to remove all the wax. I ran it through clean filters 3 times, but there was still some residue. So I let the wax settle out and stuck it in the fridge for a while, it congeals wax and makes it easier to decant the clean shellac.

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Matt Jacobs

"Don't tase me bro"

You guys should really check out Vijay Velji in San Diego. I've been getting everything from him for 4 years. Super clean, super fresh, high quality and great prices. I've never had to filter other than through a disposable paint strainer to catch undisolved pieces because I was in a hurry.
http://shellacfinishes.com/

Great article in Nov/Dec 2010 Finewoodworking about him and his family's Shellac business in India and the process of getting it from a bug to you. You have to have FWW.com access to download the whole article but here is an abstract:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/Materials/MaterialsPDF.aspx?id=33678

I'm in the LMI flake (#2) non-filtering mode as well. In mixing a new batch I make a saturated soluton with undissolved residue at the bottom of the container. I then decant off the top for use. When I get toward the bottom I'll usually add a bit of alcohl to further dissolve the bottm material and let it sit a while before using.

David, that's what I do too. Probably got that from you workshop at ASIA last summer.
Walter

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Walter Lay
"It's taken me so long, but now that I know
I can see. All that I do or say, is all I ever will be"
- Billy Joe Shaver