Thread: finishing coat for shellac on red cedar

Evening all,

I have been having great fun restoring an old red cedar fireplace surround that, due to the very, very poor condition of the original finish I (begrudgingly) had to strip back to the bare timber.

Anyway, I found a jar of very old shellac flakes in a cupboard at my grandfather’s house - he has been dead for over 25 years so I have no idea of how old the shellac was. My grandmother thought that it could be as old as 35 - 40 years.

Taking advice off a number of websites that shellac, properly stored, lasts almost indefinitely, I decided to test it, and surprisingly its fine.I have subsequently brushed about 7 to 8 coats onto the surround which has produced a very nice result (I'm sure that 1 year-old shellac probably would have produced the same result(?) but I'm kinda chuffed - although feeling a bit weird about being sentimental over shellac flakes).

Anyway... my question - what final coatings / treatment would forum members suggest in order to finish off the project? The timber presently gives off that great golden shimmering effect that shellac is famous for. I really like this, but I do not want too much gloss.

Traditional wax...if so, which one? Perhaps Danish oil? This is the first time that I've ever worked with shellac.

Cheers,

Tallen
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