Denatured ethanol of at least 95% was harder to find. Drugstores sell it in small bottles of 100 ml or so, but that's very expensive. The people of our local pharmacy were very helpful and ordered a 1 l bottle at a very fair price of EUR 9.95.
I dissolved 50 g in 1/6 l ethanol. The ethanol was heated indirectly. First, I boiled water and put this in a container. Placed a clear glass jar with ethanol/shellac mix in this hot water to heat it up. From time to time I took new hot water and every 30 min or hour I shook the jar with shellac. Dissolving shellac in ethanol takes approx. 24 to 48 hours.
I applied the shellac with a paint brush in 10 or 12 layers. One layer was not completely cured before the next one was applied. Between each layer, I waited at least 1 hour, and in this way I did 2 or 3 layers per evening.
More about shellac: here.
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