Several years ago I heard about making black shellac out of an old 78 record. At the time, I didn’t have an old 78 around so I never gave much thought about it, but a few weeks ago, my Dad gave me some old records he had lying around his garage. In the pile were some old 78’s that were broken. I thought this would be a good opportunity to try to make black shellac.
The first thing I did was make sure that the 78, even while broke, wasn’t worth anything. I scanned eBay to see what a good condition Darktown Strutters Ball was going for. At $3.00 plus shipping, it wasn’t worth much, so I was willing to destroy the record. I would only try this with broken 78’s that aren’t worth anything. Doing this to a 78 that is in good shape is considered sacrilege to audiophiles. Plus, you can only do this with old 78’s. Any newer records are made of vinyl and won’t work at all.
I broke the record apart like snapping a KitKat. I couldn’t believe how easily it snapped in half. I then stuck all the pieces into a plastic bag and crushed it more with a hammer.
Next, I weighed the pieces into a mason jar and measured out 4 ounces of shellac since I was making a two pound cut with 16 ounces of denatured alcohol
If you get confused on much shellac flakes you need for certain pound cut of shellac, here’s a simple chart I’ve been using for years. Since I make 2 cups of shellac, I double the amount of flakes I need for a two pound cut on the chart. Pretty simple.
Like any other shellac, I let the solution set for a day or two stirring the mix every few hours to help break it down. With the black carbon in the old 78 record, there will always be a sludge at the bottom of the jar. I shake and stir the black shellac before I use it to make sure the black dye is mixed well in the solution.
Below is a sample of three coats of black shellac on four different species of wood. You can see how the soft maple and red oak look a bit muddy however, the southern yellow pine and poplar highlight the early wood and late wood of the grain. As of right now, I’m just playing around with the shellac. I need to see how it performs on a project I make. What I like about the shellac so far is that it’s very quick to add more coats not having to wait very long between coats as the shellac dries very fast.
This is one side of an old rosewood tote from a Stanley plane with normal blonde shellac applied to it. Below is the other side of the tote with a coat of black shellac. Even though, the blonde shellac pops the grain, you can see how the grain on the black shellac is much more subdue and looks more natural. It’s all in what your intentions are.
Have you ever played around with black shellac? Let me know what you think about it.
MVFlaim Furnituremaker 
Dang, that’s too awesome!!! I’m now on the hunt in thrift stores for some old 78’s. Wonder if 45’s and old LP’s would work as well?
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Thanks. Only the really old thick 78’s will work. The newer vinyl ones aren’t made from shellac.
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Thanks for such a great post!
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Thanks. You think Shel Sanders would approve? hahaha. that guy.
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Shel Sanders ??? … educate me. Thanks!
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he was a loyal follower who slammed me back in the summer saying I was a hack who bragged about owning expensive tools. He had somewhat of a point but why he had to burn me I’m not sure.
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I see. Thanks for the reply. To answer your question … NO … LOL!
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Well, I’ll be. Who would have though a record would be made out of shellac. Remember in the early stage of Elvis’s career, the disc jockey smashed Elvis’s singles? I often wondered how since I couldn’t. So now that I know that 78’s are made from shellac, perhaps in the fifties they too were made from shellac.
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nope. only the old time Victrola records will work. They’re much thicker than the vinyl ones. Elvis is safe!
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Lol.
I’ll have to go on a hunt through the record stores for this.
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Very much enjoyed your black shellac experiment. I would love to make something music related using this it would certainly add interest to the piece! Imagine an audiophile record tote or cabinet finished in black shellac made from a particular record!
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You say a “2 lb. cut”.
What does this mean?
What do I have to cut 2 lbs of?
Is this 2 lbs. of liquid shellac added to the record pieces?
2 lbs of alcohol?
Please give a SPECIFIC list of ingredients that are needed.
Thank you!
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2lbs of shellac flakes (record pieces) to one gallon of denatured alcohol. So, if we do the math, there are 128 ounces in a gallon and 32 ounces in two pounds. If we divide each by 8 we get 16 ounces of denatured alcohol to 4 ounces of flakes. There are 16 ounces in two cups, so I fill up my measuring cup with two 2 cups of denatured alcohol and add 4 ounces of shellac flakes to get my mixture.
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Thanks! None of the pictures came up for me on your post, so all I had was the text.
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