Shellac final finishing...

[fredhargis]

You might want to consider not using a foam brush. Most of them are marked +not for shellac", but maybe they left that off as a cost savings measure. Foam is usually dissolved or broken down by the alcohol. there sued to be a guy around who claimed there was one that could be used, but I've since forgot which exact one that was (or if it was true). Anyway, if you insist on using a brush, get a quality one with natural bristles and dedicate it to shellac. Here's the neat thing: you don't have to clean it! Just let it turn hard, then put it away. The next time you want to use it, suspend it in DNA (or even the shellac you will use) and it will soften up within 15 minutes or so and be ready to use. Now, if you do want to clean it don't use DNA. Just give a couple of washings in household ammonia, it destroys shellac and will get it really clean (do that for spray guns as well) whereas DNA only dilutes it down...leaving some of the shellac behind. One last thing, what (I think) gets most of us in trouble with shellac is that we think of it in the same frame of mind as other finishes. Shellac is best applied in thin coats, as you build the finish each subsequent coat dissolves the previous and they become a single coat. Keeping track of the cut you're using is key to the thin coat thing.

[MattP]

Well, he certainly makes it look easy. At this point, I've spent enough time sanding, thinning, and rubbing that I could probably have just done the polish in the first place.

My technique is completely backwards - I put the shellac on very heavy, then sand, put on a lighter coat, sand, lighter coat, etc., all the way down to several with just alcohol.

I think what I just did looks terrible. The wood is fine, the stain was fine, the shellac, not so much. My wife isn't much of a critic and it looks "rustic" (bad) so she likes it. 

I'll learn eventually, I guess. I just wish I had done danish oil in the first place.

The english polisher uses a two pound cut--I've seen him mix it in a video or two.

If you have messed up a shellac finish, it's easy to take off with alcohol or with a chemical stripper.

Thin coats are the key; as others have said, the "coats" dissolve into one coat.

The key with shellac is that the alcohol evaporates so quickly that there isn't any significant time for the finish to self-level. So you put it on in really thin coats and just keep layering them up. The easiest way I have found to ensure I'm applying a thin coat is to just pad it on with a very slightly damp pad. If you've ever served in the military, it's almost exactly lik spit shining boots. Yo just use a circular motion, and each circle you make is applying a really, really thin coat of shellac that dries pretty much instantly. If it gets sticky, that means you're getting an accumulation of shellac; dribble on some mineral spirits and rub the accumulation smooth. That's really all there is to it.

[jcousins2]

since each successive coat of shellac actually dissolves the previous ones - here's my sequence.
i 1st use a 1# cut for about 3-4 coats - depending on woods - rubbed in. i like to think that the more alcohol penetrates the wood deeper and carries the shellac further in.
then i build 3 -4 (maybe 5) coats of 2# -
then back to 1# so there is more alcohol helps fuse with the heavier coats - probably 2-3 coats
i too think shellac is one of the best finishes. but for hard used surfaces (tables, sideboards, dressers) i spray on 2 layers of lacquer. all then polished out

jerry

[MattP]

i too think shellac is one of the best finishes. but for hard used surfaces (tables, sideboards, dressers) i spray on 2 layers of lacquer. all then polished out

jerry

I agree. This is one of the darn good reasons for using something else. Although...I just flipped a mahogany veneer dining table circa 1950 on Craigslist, and I french polished it and then told the buyer it was a shellac finish, and, therefore, delicate, and gave him an info sheet on caring for it. So I'll go to great lengths to be able to use shellac.