Thread: white shellac

Hi shannon,good question,but will have to wait for one of the experts to answer for you.


To Wendy,thanks for the tip on Diggers brand metho. I applied the test that Neil described and it passed with flying colors.

Terry

Whew! - Glad to hear that Terry.


Shannon - I find the application time and wait depends on your mix of shellac to metho, and the weather. The thinner the mix i.e. more metho, the thinner the coat and the quicker to dry. The hotter it is, the quicker it will dry. But beware high humidity.

I find I can put about 2-3 coats on a piece in a day and lightly sand back. In summer, I can do about 5 coats in a day.

EEE - apply and rub well, change cloths and rub again - elbow grease is sufficient until you get a mop or a couple of them

I like to leave the project overnight and then finish with ...

Trad wax - apply using different cloths to the EEE, put on, wait a little while, rub well, change cloths to polish up to the shine/sheen you want

As always, am interested in any comments/corrections

Cheers
Wendy

Thanks Ruffly,

Can always rely on your feedback - simple and concise, perfect for a simpleton like myself

The fam comes home tonight, so I am off to the workshop again - my nice tidy workshop after 2 days of cleaning and reshelving etc - to apply some more shellac. might chance 3 coats in a day instead of 1 morning and 1 night.

Thanks again,

Thanks Shannon

As always, pictures are appreciated

cheers
Wendy

Bump.

I was hoping for some response to Shannon's post of 3 Oct.

I am in the middle of finishing a coffee table with hard shellac and am also curious as to how to apply it by brush without getting any slightly raised lines down the length of the top where one brush stroke slightly overlaps the one next to it. Even having cut the hard shellac by 15% the lines still appear - small yes, but they need to be sanded off. I am using a good quality artists mop for the shallac as Neil recommends.

Should I be able to do this without any lines?

Any help appreciated.

Regards

Sorry folks spending too much time working in the background and don't get much time to actually answer anything.

Peter - You can cut the shellac up to 50% it's a pretty strong brew. You can add a little N-Butynol (which you probably won't be able to find) and this will make the shellac flow much better and greatly reduce the witness lines from brushing the finish on.

Can't get N-Butaynol? Use a little mineral turpentine or white spirits and when I say a little I mean a little. Try mixing around 100ml white shellac with 1/2 teaspoon of the turps etc. Then try it on scrap timber to test for drying time. Could add a few minutes to an hour or so, depending on the thickness of the application.

Shannon - there is no need to wait 8 hrs between coats of White Shellac. You can re-coat as soon as the first coat is dry. Depending on how heavy handed you are with the application this could take from 10 minutes to 1 hour, less in hot weather. I did 5 coats in an hour on walnut a week or so ago. Left it overnight then sanded back with 800 grit and began polishing with a rubber. Worked the rubber over the entire surface for around 10 minutes (actually stopped cause the hand and arm were getting a bit sore as I haven't done much polishing in the last few years) left it for 15 min or so then repeated, did the same thing twice more and ended up with an almost full blown French polished surface that took somewhere in the vicinity of 2 hrs total work.

This I left for a week to allow the shellac fully harden and sink into the timber. I then used the rubber again about half a dozen more times at around 5 minute intervals. Absolutely brilliant, blemish free, mirror surface that looked polished not plastic. Total working time around 3 1/2 hrs over all.

Leaving it to fully harden again before putting the whole thing back together and delivering it. Oh yeah.... It's a Victorian walnut mirror that was burnt in a fire many years ago, had to re-carve most sections and mouldings re veneer, etc and polish. Might even take a pic if I remember.

Cheers - Neil

Thankyou for the response Neil, it will definately help me in the future.

Also, if I decided on a more satin finish instead of the full polished route, how would I go about this?? On some previous work I have used a wattyl matt finish then given it a whack with some scandanavian oil, but if I can get the same effect using Ubeaut products I will do so - not sucking up here, I just appreciate the forum and this is one way I can show that.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks Neil,

Just goes to show there is so much more for me to learn in regards to shellac - but it's a fun and interesting journey.

Cheers
Wendy

Peter - You can cut the shellac up to 50% it's a pretty strong brew. You can add a little N-Butynol (which you probably won't be able to find) and this will make the shellac flow much better and greatly reduce the witness lines from brushing the finish on.

Can't get N-Butaynol? Use a little mineral turpentine or white spirits and when I say a little I mean a little. Try mixing around 100ml white shellac with 1/2 teaspoon of the turps etc. Then try it on scrap timber to test for drying time. Could add a few minutes to an hour or so, depending on the thickness of the application.

Dear Ub' - you don't mind this universal Australian abbreviation do you?

I will try your advice this evening. You neatly skirted around the question of whether I was just incompetent or whether one should be able to apply the hard shellac with a quality brush without the fine lines. Don't spare the feelings. Let me (and us) know!

Regards