Shellac is fascinating. It’s one of the most useful wood products you can buy, and it has a lot of interesting qualities and features. Shellac is also a somewhat famous noise band from Chicago, formed by Steve Albini and Todd Trainer in 1992.
While I could write about either shellac, or possibly do a face-off between the band and the product, I’m going to focus on the wood product today.
Shellac is a natural resin, secreted by a bug called the “lac.” The term “Beetlejuice” is actually slang for shellac. In its purest form, shellac is a solid. It has numerous uses in industry, as it is all natural and hypo-allergenic. It is used in many food products, generally anything that has a shiny surface (think candy!). When solid shellac is dissolved into denatured alcohol, it can be used as a combination wood stain and sealer. This is where you can get creative.
Why would you want to use shellac instead of a typical wood stain / poly combination? A few reasons:
- Very easy to apply
- Low odor
- Dries in minutes (yes, minutes)
- Environmentally friendly
- Inexpensive
- Tintable
- Sticks to almost anything
Shellac is great for any small craft project, and even larger furniture projects. It’s also great for toys that might end up in the mouths of either animals or children.
If you want to try out shellac, you can pick up a quart of Zinsser brand for about $10-12. It comes in both clear and amber color. Clear isn’t 100% clear, it will add a little bit of a golden tint to the wood. Amber is the typical “shellacked” look.
A quart should be more than enough for your project. You’ll also want to purchase some brushes, and some denatured alcohol (about $6/quart, or so). The only snag with shellac is that cleanup does require denatured alcohol.
PROTIP: You can easily stain and seal a woodworking project in about 30 minutes using shellac. While in the paint department at the store, ask the employee for a few ounces of tint. At a home center such as Home Depot the employee might get confused or tell you he can’t do that. At a smaller store, generally it’s not a problem to give a customer a dixie cup full of tint. Shellac can be tinted using any universal colorant, which are the tints used with most latex paints. To achieve a dark brown stain, you only need a little bit of dark brown or black colorant. Here’s a whole PDF file explaining how to use tinted shellac.
Prepare your wood as you normally would for staining (sanding, etc), and brush on your shellac. Go very thin, you’ll be doing more than one coat. Shellac dries INCREDIBLY FAST. You can actually see it drying. If you put it on too thick, it will gunk up and you’ll need to sand it down and recoat. You can sand and apply your next coat within 30-45 minutes. Keep applying thin coats until you are satisfied with the look.
Honestly, I don’t know why shellac doesn’t get more attention. It can be used for almost any project. Here are a few more uses:
- Shellac is the only product that can truly seal wood, to the extent of preventing sap excretion. If you have a piece of wood that is still sappy, a coat of shellac will keep it sealed.
- Shellac can be used on metal to protect from corrosion.
- Shellac can be used to seal and protect floors (it is very durable).
- Used to seal and protect artwork, such as decoupage or canvas or paper.
- When thinned, can be used as a wood conditioner.
When in doubt, use shellac. When in a hurry, use shellac. Shellac will stick to almost anything, will seal almost anything, dries very very quickly, and lasts a long time. The only time shellac might not be appropriate would be in very high humidity areas–such as a bathroom or near a stove. Humidity over time can damage shellac. Other than that, it is very durable and will handle exposure to water (if dried within a reasonable amount of time).
For more information about shellac you can check out these links
- The Natural Handyman
- Zinsser’s Site
- Touch and Go Records [Shellac of North America, the band]
Yes! Absolutely. That would be a great use of shellac. You could even put shellac over the bark if you really wanted to.
March 13, 2009 at 10:56 amin a pinch can it be used as a condom?
March 13, 2009 at 11:23 amMichael, while it would be non-toxic and hypoallergenic… the number of coats required as well as the cleanup with denatured alcohol probably would make it more trouble than its worth.
Never fear, scientists are working on a jar you can dip your wang in and get a custom condom.
March 13, 2009 at 11:35 amWe’re outta jars, try a test tube.
March 15, 2009 at 2:09 am
I have an awesome tree branch (about 12 feet tall) that I found after a storm in DC. I sawed it into a single pole and now use it to run a cord to a ceiling lamp.
Can I use shellac on something like a tree branch (all the bark has been removed)?
March 13, 2009 at 10:53 am