Thread: Help needed with shellac please

Hi. I'm on my first attempt at using shellac and things are not working out quite as expected. I would like a bit of advice about whether I am following the right method.

I recently went to Carbatec and bought some UBeaut French Polish and EEE cream. I'm brushing the shellac on. I'm trying to put a high gloss finish on a small box. This is what I have been doing.
1. sanding and sealing the timber
2. applying 2 coats of UBeaut French Polish, diluted a little, by brush.
3. sanding back lightly, mainly just to remove the worst of the lap marks
4. applying another couple of coats
5. sanding to get a smooth finish using 800, 1200, 1500 then 2000 grit
6. rubbing with eee cream (sorry, not sure of proper name but I exect you all recognise it).

The result is nice and smooth - feels good and looks Ok from a distance or square on, but when you get close or look a little side-on it becomes apparent that the finish is:
1. a little cloudy, perhaps due to 2. below.
2. there are fine scratches over the surface.
3. there is a pattern where I have sanded through the top coat in patches - it looks like the zigzag pattern on a human skull where the bones fuse together. I thought shellac was not supposed to do this.

I am thinking the scratches probably indicate that I should be using something after the 2000 grit but before the eee, but I dont know what it is. Any recommendations ?

I'm also noticing that the skull pattern may be related to the fact that it occurs on the surfaces where I polished the surface from 800 grit through to eee after the first two coats, then put the subsequent coats on top. Where I didnt do this, but just sanded back with a coarse grit (just enough to remove the lap marks) the skull pattern is absent. I'm not sure this is the reason because there were other differences in the treatment of the two areas. Can anyone advise ?

Finally, there is a remote chance that I am just not rubbing hard and long enough with the eee. Its a little difficult as I have RSI so cannot do a repetitive motion for long, so I am wondering if there might be some machine that will do the job without risk to the surface. I have a buffing machine as used for cars but its clumsy on a small timber box. I also have a large angle-grinder/polisher but its brutal.

thanks
Arron