...what would you do...?

I have been applying hard shellac to some irregularly shaped ornamental pieces.

Today is Wednesday..and..here's the thing...

I have to present them on Saturday come hell or high water...

The last time I can do anything to them will be Friday morning.

I was thinking of applying more shellac tomorrow morning and on Fri am going over it with a couple of grades of steel wool and wax to try and get a half decent smooth finish.

I haver no idea of the best thing to do, so in this time frame and under these constraints - what would you do?

Thanks,
Rob .

Any pics? Could you just use a clear gloss lacquer over the top of the shellac?


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Rob,
I use hard shellac a bit. If you don't need the ornamental pieces to be glossy I'd probably take a similar approach to you - stop adding shellac tonight or tomorrow a.m. and let it dry as much as it can until Friday morning. I'd only use wax and fine steel wool - if you have it Rustin's 0000+ is better in my opinion than just a 0000 wool.

Any kind of gloss finish will show any blemishes but if you must then I'd give it a go with the finest steel wool you have then a final couple of coats of hard shellac.

Good luck!

Brian

well...it's Friday am - Thursday lunchtime I made myself leave things alone and put the pieces in my daughter's ex bedroom and turned the aircon up to 30deg C

I have just given them the 0000 steel wool & wax and after making myself leave things alone again I'm bold enough to say that I walked away from this one... (pilot's joke)

Thanks for taking an interest.

Regards,
Rob.

ps sorry about the crap lighting

They look great, Rob. Carved by you?

I find the hardest part of finishing is saying "enough" then leaving it alone.:)

..er...well...CNC exercise...turned into a birthday present...

Good grief! CNC? Programming all those compound curves must have been a challenge.

i'm looking at CNC routers for small work - any recommendation, Rob?

Brian

Homey,

Things like those leaves can be 'sculpted' in 3D by 'painting' to add or subtract material.

Software then takes care of the toolpath generation.

I'm not detracting from Rob's work, which is very nice. Just saying that it's not as hard to get started as one might think.

getting to grips with the software is a key requirement of course. Some of it is amazing .

Start looking at it now and allocate lots of time use You tube forums and do shitloads of work and learning before deciding to buy. The danger might be that doing all that makes you convinced that you need one. No one can decide that except you.

I have a 6090 one of these:

https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...207258101.html

The dust shoe is hopeless but it's easy to make one. If you use long bits and/or work boards for projects one of the covers needs to be cut away a bit so the spindle can mounted higher to give suitable Z axis travel without colliding with the cover . that is not hard to do either.

You should be aware that these are imported by a Brisbane firm who mark up the price 250% (or more) and who have complaints lodged against them and who provide little or no service and/or training besides delivery and initial setup. I wouldn't advise anyone to go there...but then again it's up to the individual.

The thing about the compound curves is that it presents variations of end grain everywhere and so finishing with stain etc was very interesting - since fallen leaves are by definition somewhat beaten up, I didn't worry too much particularly since I had no time to worry :o)

Thanks for the input, Rob - it is much appreciated. I'll certainly take on board your comments on putting in lots of time learning before buying.

Hope the birthday present was suitably appreciated!

Brian