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That week I had to strip a 12-foot antique bar top in a client's garage during a heatwave
The shellac was melting faster than I could scrape it, but I found that keeping a spray bottle of denatured alcohol in a cooler of ice let me work in short, controlled bursts without the finish setting up instantly, so has anyone else had to improvise like that in extreme weather?
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christopherw342d ago
Shellac actually dissolves with alcohol, it doesn't melt from heat. The heat just makes the alcohol evaporate too fast to work. Your cooler trick was smart for slowing that down. I've had to do similar stuff with wood stains in high humidity, just fighting the clock before it gets gummy.
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kimfisher2d agoTop Commenter
Yeah, that humidity fight is the worst. I was trying to French polish a table last summer in my garage, and it was like 90% humidity. The shellac just would not flow, it set up almost instantly into this awful sticky mess. I ended up having to add a ton of alcohol to thin it way down, which just made the finish way too thin. Honestly felt like I was working against the weather itself.
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the_christopher2d ago
Ever try mineral spirits like @kimfisher?
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