Here’s another tool I wrote about earlier in the year. We mix a lot of shellac in our shop (among other things), and getting the flakes to dissolve quickly is always a challenge.
Enter the Intllab Magnetic Stirrer. This $30 gizmo dissolves flakes in short order with little effort on my part. I put the alcohol in a jar, dump in the flakes, drop in the magnetic stir bar and turn on the machine. Then I walk away and work on something else for a little while.
As several people have pointed out, another solution is to grind the flakes into a powder with a coffee bean grinder (which is about the same price as the magnetic stirrer). I’ve seen this done, and it works, too. But here’s the problem with that solution: It doesn’t use magnets, which are cool. (Also, I don’t own a bean grinder.)
I also use the magnetic stirrer for mixing milk paint powder and stirring the flatting paste into lacquer. (Try putting flatting paste in your coffee grinder.)
Is a magnetic stirrer essential to your workshop? No. But it’s a nice luxury and is great fun to play with.
— Christopher Schwarz
I completly concur – I bought one after your previous blogpost on the subject, and have found it to be a most useful and very-nice-indeed-to-have piece of kit.
Mattias
You had me at magnets…
Flatting. Flatting. Flatting. It’s a fun word, but seems . . . incomplete.
And the coffee tastes awful after you run shellac through the grinder.
Would you say the taste is a bit lac-ing?
Happy Turkey Bird day all!
On Chris’s recommendation I bought one and it has to be one of my greatest time savers. One note though: When mixing shellac I try to maintain large flakes (don’t grind the flakes) or it will thicken and stop the stir bar. Leave running over night and it creates a super clean, no residue mix. Also I use 99% alcohol as opposed to the hardware store standard fuel which contains significant water.
Peace and ThanksGiving to all.
The funniest thing is that similar (perhaps somewhat better made) magnetic stirrers purchased for scientific labs would cost hundreds of dollars. And if they were heater/stirrers – oh boy! Adding “scientific” or “research” to a product adds a lot of bucks.
The funny thing is I built one of these for a friend of mine out of an old external hard drive. The ones the brewery supply sold were hundreds of dollars. He needed a mixer for his home brewery. Now I don’t have one for my shellac, but he gives me free beer he makes. For $30 it not worth making another though.
For small batches, try a hand blender with a stainless rotary whisk (or small propeller) in a jelly jar. Great for milk paint too. Easy to clean and the jar goes afterward to recycling. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HLPRWKV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_3J9VFbV53KYRR
But if it had Bluetooth………………
Flatting paste? Had to look that up. I’ve been finishing furniture for 40 years but never heard of flatting paste. Thanks
All, is there any reason to have a heated one?
stay safe Ralph
That’s how I make the best hot chocolate. Unlike the stovetop, you simply cannot burn the milk…..
I would also recommend a “policeman” for removing the stir bar without putting your fingers in the mix.
That is very cool and smart time management! Thanks.
Its a shop essential for me. I use it for mixing shellac, mixing colorants into lacquer, mixing flattener into shellac or lacquer, mixing paints to get custom colors…: