Thread: Black shellac a ybody?

Perhaps add black pigment to shellac

John

Spirit Black and add a touch of Bismarck Brown which is a red colour . The touch of red sends it from a blue black to a jet black . Being spirit colours it stays 100 % liquid unlike Black oxide pigment which leaves it with the body of the pigment and more opaque.

You can colour up your shellac using Feast Watson's Prooftints as well. The black will vary depending on the shellac you're using - a bleached or blonde shellac with black Prooftint will be toward a blue, but garnet or ruby shellac will give you a warmer black.

Nigrosine which is alcohol soluble gives the truest traditional black - used on grand pianos. But I don't know if anyone stocks it in Australia any longer.

Originally Posted by BFDACT

You can colour up your shellac using Feast Watson's Prooftints as well. The black will vary depending on the shellac you're using - a bleached or blonde shellac with black Prooftint will be toward a blue, but garnet or ruby shellac will give you a warmer black.

Nigrosine which is alcohol soluble gives the truest traditional black - used on grand pianos. But I don't know if anyone stocks it in Australia any longer.

Very interesting, very commonly used too. Nigrosine|Nigrosin|Nigrosine Black|Solvent Black 5|Solvent Black 7|Acid Black 2|Pigment Black 1 (epsilonpigments.com)

Seems it's still available in Oz.

Dyes-Aniline Powder : Dye, Aniline, Powder, SPIRIT (ALCOHOL) Soluble, Black, (thewoodworks.com.au)

Mobyturns if you're going to try nigrosine, you'll need to dissolve it in denatured alcohol first, strain it through a disposable paint filters as you add it to your shellac, and I'd filter the shellac again before use. And a little goes a loooonnnnng way.

Any particles that haven't dissolved, and there will a bit, are removed before you try and rubber it on. Otherwise it's streaky and gritty. Not a good outcome.

Also this definitely works best using a rubber. It's difficult to get a decent flat finish using brushes. And you can use oil and pumice with nigrosine black shellac if you're after a fully chocked mirror finish.

If your Indian ink is also alcohol based, put a few wash coats of clear shellac over it first. Then go to town with the black shellac.

There is also a restorer's trick of smashing and dissolving 78s in alcohol - they were made of shellac and the colour you get is a dirty green black that is used to colour match when restoring. Though I suspect you'd struggle to find 78s for a price you'd then take to them with a hammer...

I just spoon a few scoops of spirit black into a jar and cover with metho. The sediment settles to the bottom and the jar lasts a year or more with me taking what I need out as it’s used .

More a curiosity and learning thing for me. Thankyou both for sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience.

About the only thing I might, and it's a remote might, try it on is to ebonize finials in wood turning. Though QLD Maple ebonizes very well with the traditional ebonizing solution.