Working Pot for Shellac

[Tom Bender]

I mix shellac in a 24 ounce canning jar then work out of an 8 ounce canning jar. I did until today. Couldn't get the top off without risk of breaking it so it is outta here. Suggestions?

[John TenEyck]

Stop loss bags?

John

[Rich Engelhardt]

Soak a towel in alcohol and stick it in a plastic bag.
Stick the canning jar in the bag also.
Seal it up nice and tight.

Maybe the fumes will loosen the grip.

[Philip Glover]

If the lid is metal I would cut a hole in the lid and put the shellac into a can or stop loss bag.

PCG

[Ralph Boumenot]

I use empty quart and pint paint cans I get at the paint store. I had the same problem with jars like you do.

[Tom Bender]

The rim of the mixing jar doesn't get wet if I'm careful and I wipe the rim with alcohol so it doesn't stick. But the working pot gets more frequent and messy use and I'm usually kinda busy and cleaning the rim and lid is fussy.

Thinking about a rubbery food storage tub, have to shop at the kitchen store.

[Stan Calow]

I like to use caning jars too. I don't use the regular lids, I use the plastic kind: https://www.amazon.com/Ball-Regular-Mouth-Black-Plastic/dp/B08KWRB95N/ref=sr_1_23?] They're a lot easier to deal with.

[roger wiegand]

A paint can? It's pretty reliable technology.

I inherited a number of glass wide mouth lab reagent bottles that have a "no drip" plastic ring around the lip of the jar and a polypropylene lid. These work very well, the shellac won't stick to the plastic they use. At twenty bucks a piece for a 500 ml jar they aren't particularly practical. If you have a local lab surplus place you might find some at a reasonable price. Most glassware of that sort gets pitched when a lab closes despite how much it costs to buy new.

[Prashun Patel]

I use HDPE plastic bottles. You can try PET bottles (like soda bottles).

But if you like your canning jars, you can just put a little vaseline around the rim of the jar. I do that for CA glue bottles and it works decently.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Assuming it's a mason-type jar with the metal lid - Punch holes in the top - maybe rip a gash in it. Set outside, let it cure. Non-haz waste

[stephen thomas]

I gave up on the canning jars a few decades ago. About the same time it became difficult/impossible locally to get unsweetened frozen grapefruit concentrate. The PET containers that un-sweetened, un-frozen grapefruit juice comes in turned out to have a myriad of uses for mixing finishes of all sorts.

One aggravation: a number of years ago they changed the size of those from 1/2 gallon/64 oz to 60oz, a cup short.
So the container shape is less satisfying, and less easy to visually gage or mark off on the side with simply a ruler.
Back to a mixing cup, but the containers are still useful.

I have noticed that sometimes a 64 oz container still appears, so it might be brand or product related.

smt

[Jim McCue]

I tried mason jars in the past and had the same problem.

I've been using plastic squeeze bottles with little caps and you can cut the tips the size you want. I wasn't sure about mixing flakes in the bottles, but it's been working out, it just takes a long time. I use them to dispense by holding the bottle in one hand and a rag in the other. It makes it easy to squirt a little more shellac into the rag.

You might try plumbing teflon tape on the threads. I use that on the plastic bottles. Don't remember if I tried that on the mason jars or not.

[Doug Garson]

When I use jars with screw on lids for finish, I put two layers of thin plastic from plastic bags over the jar before screwing the lid on.