How long between coats when spraying shellac?

[James Spillman]

I'm going to use shellac in a spray can to finish some small boxes. How long should I wait between coats for the shellac to dry before applying more coats?

[Bruce King]

Depends on humidity and how thick a layer is put on.
Anywhere from one hour to 24 with 2 hours being the safe bet for a thinner coat. If the sandpaper drags without making white dust it’s still not ready. I use 320 grit between coats and lightly across the final coat. Then 0000 steel wool or 600 grit for the final buffing.

[roger wiegand]

Mostly it seems to depend on how fresh the shellac is. When I make a fresh batch I can, as I did yesterday, sand and recoat in 30 minutes. (This was brushed on, I expect sprayed could be even thinner layers and therefore faster) The same jar of shellac a year from now might well take 1-2 hr to dry. If it doesn't powder nicely when sanded, as Bruce said, it's not ready.

[Clark Hussey]

Typically 15-30 minutes. Spray can is in the 15 minute range Brushed 30 minutes

[Jim Becker]

I'll echo Clark's recommendation. After the final coat, I like to let it set overhigh when that's convenient so that any remaining solvent has the opportunity to flash off completely. But that's not necessarily required. Do keep in mind that with shellac, a thinner end result is better...if you build too much, it's going to potentially get nasty and if coating over it with waterborne, you can end up with a cracking surface.