Testing if a solution is saturated by blowing is a pretty poor method.
A number of times, i've blown, gotten clouds...and nothing precipitates.
My money is on it being one of the following (or combination)
1) it isn't obtusifolia (are you certain on ID? Identification of Acacia can certainly be tricky imo)
2) it is obtusifolia, but is a low yielding sample, or was obtained after rain.
3) the shellite was no adequately mixed with the basic solution, I shake up and down 25 or so times. Then repeat that 3-5 times before pulling.
4) Shellite sucks
To address, issue 4, I`ll cross post the method that me and a few friends use, which is preferable, since Toluene is so great at first run extractions.
Quote:
I`ll help you out, since I live in Australia myself.
Firstly, yes, Shellite is rubbish, only use that for defatting purposes, if you have need to perform defatting.
Step 1) Obtain Toluene, this is commonly sold a fuel additive (I believe for car racing *shrug*) from Auto shops...at least that's how I got mine.
Step 2) Obtain Zippo fuel, just goto a smokemart, sold in 125ml bottles...bit pricy, but this is just used for recrystalisation.
When doing the extraction, you do your initial pulls with the Toluene.
Let that evap completely, it will result in a brown/orangish/yellow goo, that seemingly has crystals embedded, when it is dried.
Scrape this up with a razor-blade into a shot glass, with a small amount of Zippo.
Place the shotglass into a small container of boiling water (also known as a water bath).
Stir this around and it will heat up, although one may panic, it's fine see it boiling.
Once it's mixed, a large part of the goo will be dissolved.
Take the shot glass out of the water bath, and let it sit.
Initially the fats will drop to the bottom of glass.
During the transition from clear/slight yellow, to cloudy, transition the liquid into a secondary shot glass.
Repeat the process, moving the second recrystalisation pull into the secondary shot glass.
Then simply throw glad wrap over the top, and throw that into the freezer.
I did this process with a friend last night, and we`ve both done it a number of times with great success.
All the best.