Official Luthiers Forum!

I had some flakes I stored indifferently some years ago, and after a period of time (year+?) they would no longer dissolve completely and what did dissolve didn't dry as well as fresh shellac should. It was a relatively small amount (5-6 oz) so no great loss, but I did learn that even flakes , which I also assumed had an indefinite shelf life, don't. I read dewaxed doesn't have as much shelf life as waxed. Button lac contains wax and should have a longer shelf life than dewaxed. I'm lazy and prefer the dewaxed flakes.

I have bought the Wellermart shellac before; it was fine. The shipping heat potential problem could affect any of the retailers. It is always good to allow for the possibility that the shellac is past its useful life. It happens. And it can definitely happen to dry flakes, particularly the refined super blonde flakes. That happened to me once.