shellac/varnish over clear finishing oil

**kman-oz** · 13th November 2008, 12:51 PM

I've been quite successful with Hard Burnishing Oil on various Aussie hardwoods, I very much like the colour that the flooded surface produces, but I'm interested in exploring a more glossy finish.

Up to this point I've burnished up to 1200 grit over a period of 4-7 days depending on the whether (In the recent heat in Melbourne I've finished a peice in three days!) followed by our sponsors EEE and natural wax. I've been very satisfied with this finish, but the Minister for Domestic Affairs wants something with very high satin finish... call it a misty gloss if you will.

So, I was thinking about attempting to French polish over the existing oil finish rather than waxing. I have some Orange Shallac and White Shallac and Neil's handbook on French Polishing, as well as quite a few bit's of scrap to test with. Can anyone give me an idea of whether this will work? Will it last?

Thanks in advance for your help folks.

Dave.

EDIT: I should clarify that the other reason I'm considering Shellac is because it's non toxic. I'm building another cot, this time for my newphew.

**ubeaut** · 14th November 2008, 09:00 AM

If you intendd to use shellac over EEE or Trad youwill need to wash the entire surface down well with mineral turpentine and lots of clean rag to remove as much of the wax as possible.

Shellac has the ability to go over almost anything but the less wax on the surface the better.

Personally I would have left the burnishing oil for a few weeks to a month or more before hitting it with the EEE. This should bring up more of a shine because the oil if (or should be) fully cured.

If any organoil or other oil still has aromatics. ie smells of orange or eucalyptus, etc it isn't fully cured (probably isn't the best for babies on a cot either) and shouldn't be waxed as this aromatic will keep the wax soft and stop it from doing the job it's supposed to.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil

**kman-oz** · 14th November 2008, 09:29 AM

G'day again Neil, thanks for your insights.

I didn't intend to shellac over the wax. I've been using wax over the oil and I want to try Shellac over the oil alone.

The main reason I use EEE and wax over the un-cured oil is to slow the cure rate. I'd found that with an oil flooded surface the hot weather cured it rather quickly (perhaps < two weeks) and caused a lot of bleed-back. I noticed that this didn't occur in the dead of winter, only in Summer, so I experimented with the wax to see if it would slow the cure rate. It works really well and results in a much better finish with less work, so I use it all the time now.

Rest assured that I always allow at least a month for the finish to cure before bringing anything into the house. SWMBO has a very sensitive nose, she can tell me in seconds if it's finished curing or not.

So, providing I allow plenty of time for the oil to cure ( >1 month), leave out the wax and scrape the surface back, I should be able to apply shellac OK?

Thanks for your help Neil.

Dave.

**kman-oz** · 21st November 2008, 04:06 PM

Bump!

Can anyone else comment on this process?

**RufflyRustic** · 21st November 2008, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by kman-oz

........

So, providing I allow plenty of time for the oil to cure ( >1 month), leave out the wax and scrape the surface back, I should be able to apply shellac OK?
.....

Yes

cheers
Wendy

**kman-oz** · 23rd November 2008, 10:09 PM

Thanks Wendy

Thread: shellac/varnish over clear finishing oil - REVISITED

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