Warning: lost $120 on a bad batch of shellac flakes

I bought a pound of cheap dewaxed shellac flakes off eBay last month and they were garbage. The flakes were way too dark and had a weird musty smell even after dissolving them in denatured alcohol. I went ahead and used it on a dining table I was refinishing for a client. The finish came out cloudy with streaks no matter how many coats I put on. Had to strip the whole thing back down to bare wood and start over with Zinsser's SealCoat from the hardware store. Cost me about $120 in wasted product and a full weekend of work. Anyone else run into bad shellac from random sellers online?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason7981mo ago

Yeah that's rough but not surprising. I got burned on some cheap flakes from a random seller too, they looked fine dry but turned into a cloudy mess once mixed up. Took me three tries with different brands from Amazon before I just gave up and switched to pre-mixed cans.

laura2111mo ago

The pre-mixed stuff is the only way to go honestly... flakes are just too risky unless you're buying from a legit paint store. Spend the extra few bucks and save yourself the headache of testing batches that turn out like dishwater. Cloudy flakes are the worst because you don't even realize it until it's too late. Amazon is full of counterfeit garbage these days. Seems like half the sellers are just reselling mystery powder in fancy bags.