lacquer shortage?

[mr_skittle]

I've been looking for lacquer over the last couple of months at my local Menards store (think Home Depot). It's finally come time that I actually NEED some and I can't find a drop of the Watco brand the store carries. Every trip to the store I've noticed that the shelves in the paint dept. have fewer and fewer cans. I asked the dept. manager what the deal is and he couldn't find a can in the entire chain's system. Apparently, the ice and cold that struck Texas last spring shut down some chemical factories that make ingredients for paints and other finishes. My next try was a Benjamin Moore store and their shelves were full. When I asked the employee, he confirmed the story about the Texas factories and added that Sherwin Williams has really been struggling. They couldn't even get some of the standard latex house paints. I guess Benjamin Moore gets their ingredients from someplace other than Texas and he said it's led to a very busy summer. So now instead of the simple, premix lacquer, I have to use catalyzed stuff. I know it's a better product but I really like the ease of the Watco stuff. Oh well, i guess. At least I was able to find something high-quality.

[toolmiser]

I was looking for some "dewaxed shellac" at the end of the summer also at Menards, they were in the process of redoing that section, and it had been eliminated. I also check my local ACE hardware and they didn't carry it either. I like to have it around for special applications, and maybe a project that needs to dry quickly.

[mr_skittle]

I was looking for some "dewaxed shellac" at the end of the summer also at Menards, they were in the process of redoing that section, and it had been eliminated.  I also check my local ACE hardware and they didn't carry it either.  I like to have it around for special applications, and maybe a project that needs to dry quickly.

YEP! I also had trouble finding dewaxed shellac, otherwise known as Bulls Eye SealCoat. I tracked down a quart this summer at Ace, but it was my 3rd stop. I grabbed the last gallon off the shelf at Menards the other day because I'll need some soon. When this gallon runs low I'm going to order a few varieties of shellac flakes. That will eliminate my need for the canned stuff.

[fredhargis]

I have a quart of Watco lacquer in my stash from some time ago, and if you were closer I would give it to you. That said, I suspect (or wonder) if the shortage is somewhat related to environmental concerns along with some of the other factors you described. But maybe related to this, I ordered a fiberglass truck cap back in Sept. and was told it would be here in January. The story went (from 2 different vendors) that a Texas fire crippled the fiberglass industry...no idea about how correct it is, but no one could get me a truck cap sooner.

[AHill]

At least your local area still allows lacquer. Before I moved to Florida, I lived in LA County in Southern California. So many banned products due to air quality that I couldn't get anything with a certain VOC content. No lacquer. No oil-based Waterlox, etc. Fortunately for me, I only had to drive to the next county to get lacquer.

A lot of the raw materials to make shellac come from India. Huge COVID issues in India and getting things shipped from India is a real chore. That, coupled with the port labor shortage is wreaking havoc on the supply chain.

[mr_skittle]

The immediate cause of all these shortages is pandemic related but I think the whole supply chain and manufacturing industry has been playing with fire for a decade or two now with the move to 'lean manufacturing' practices. This is the idea that a company should never have excess capacity or product. For example. would it cost Watco or Sherwin Willimas more money to have a second supplier of materials outside of Texas? Probably, but then they might not be losing money now because they can't get supplies. The whole lean manufacturing ideas just seems like a short-sighted way to get more profits. It will be interesting to see how things shake out as we eventually (fingers crossed) move past this f-ing pandemic.

[jteneyck]

SW's ships a lot of product to HD and Lowes, and they try to honor those commitments before others, or at least that was what I was told by the guy at BM when I went there after SW's had no ProClassic WB trim paint.  Not a quart nor gallon in any of my local SW stores.  The shelves were full at BM.  

I used to buy Sealcoat in the two gallon carton from HD for about $75 total with free in store pickup.  I see now it's out of stock.  Their other shellac products show as available on the website.  

All we can do is adjust and adapt until things get to whatever the new normal is.   

John

[mr_skittle]

All we can do is adjust and adapt until things get to whatever the new normal is.   

John

Well put. We've gone from the unreasonably fast and cheap shipping expectations that places like Amazon have set, to the opposite end of the spectrum where shipping is expensive and slow. I ordered two pairs of 2in premium hinges today and I had to choose between $15 UPS shipping and $7 USPS. Presuming the retailer isn't gouging me too much to make a profit off the shipping, I think either of those choices is unreasonably high. Throw the darn things in a padded envelop and send them first class, shouldn't cost more than a few bucks.