Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Went to buy shellac at Lowes and found Zinsser amber no longer on the shelf. There was something called "clear". I needed shellac so I bought it. For others in this pickle:

It seems to be waxed. It is light amber in color in the dry film. It is 25% solids by my measurement.

2 pound shellac plus 6 pounds of alcohol is going to come up to about a gallon of "shellac". Make you own from Woodcraft would be twice Zinsser price.

You would not believe how cheap ethyl alcohol is by the tank car.

I long suspected Zinsser shellac had a high boiling solvent as part of the formulation. I asked an "expert" in finishing and was assured it was pure ethanol. Well, its MSDS says the solvent is ethanol, plus isopropanol and methyl isobutyl ketone, a high boiling solvent. The later two ingredients are there to retard evaporation rate, perhaps for brushing, but the price to pay is longer time to get hard.

This stuff is cheaper than make-you-own unless someone knows a cheaper source of shellac than I do.