BLO under shellac?

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

I love BLO on cherry and love shellac on cherry. I vaguely remember (or think I remember?) reading that it's a no-no because the oil will seep through the shellac.

Is this true? If a coat of oil is given a few days to cure, it's there a risk of this?

[Handplanesandmore]

I love BLO on cherry and love shellac on cherry.  I vaguely remember (or think I remember?) reading that it's a no-no because the oil will seep through the shellac.

Is this true?  If a coat of oil is given a few days to cure, it's there a risk of this?

They work together well. Just wipe off the BLO excess immediately and let your BLO dry (48 - 72 hours is my practice, longer in colder days) then apply the shellac.

Simon

[Roly]

They work together well. Just wipe off the BLO excess immediately and let your BLO dry (48 - 72 hours is my practice, longer in colder days) then apply the shellac.

Simon

Agree I have never had a problem with blo and shellac.   If it is nice outside after giving a coat of blo I set out in the sun to darken the cherry a little before top coat.  Roly

[cams2705]

I've successfully done this a few times and even taken it a step further when I'm in a pinch for a fast, good looking finish.  I applied the BLO to get some depth out of the wood in the project.  Wiped the excess over the next hour or so.  After a day or so dry time, apply two thin coats of shellac.  A few hours later, I can spray a couple thin protective coats of water based poly.  This method gives me the look of an oil finish without the time waiting for each coat of an oil finish to fully cure.

[fredhargis]

Jeff Jewitt describes what he calls a "quick and dirty" (sometimes "down and dirty") french polish. In it, he applies a thinned coat of BLO to the wood, wipes it off and then puts on a coat of shellac (no waiting). I've put it on BLO after a day cure time, I think Jeff's method works because he applies a very thin coat of BLO. Like you I love BLO on cherry, but to be honest, just a coat of shellac is also very nice. Regardless, what you want to do will work fine, and look beautiful.

[Bill Wilson]

I've done this several times.  No problems.  I sometimes use shellac as a barrier between BLO and a waterborne topcoat.  It's probably overkill, because you can closely replicate the look of BLO, by just using shellac and skip the BLO altogether.  But like you, I really like what BLO does for cherry.

[jteneyck]

FWIW:



These specimens are sequential slices from a single board.  The specimen on the left is Arm-R-Seal gloss, in the middle it's ARS over Sealcoat shellac, on the right it's BLO - the top half has ARS over it, the bottom half has Sealcoat then ARS.  

To me, the ARS alone on the left looks best.  The BLO + Sealcoat + ARS, bottom right, the worst.  YMMV.

John

[Audiophile]

FWIW:



These specimens are sequential slices from a single board.  The specimen on the left is Arm-R-Seal gloss, in the middle it's ARS over Sealcoat shellac, on the right it's BLO - the top half has ARS over it, the bottom half has Sealcoat then ARS.  

To me, the ARS alone on the left looks best.  The BLO + Sealcoat + ARS, bottom right, the worst.  YMMV.

John

I agree with your assessment.  The ARS alone does look the best.

[cputnam]

Try using a spit coat of shellac sanded back so that just the grain that is going to splotch is filled. Wipe on BLO and wipe off after a few minutes. Then (after about an hour) start with applications of garnet shellac.

[Timberwolf]

I love BLO on cherry and love shellac on cherry.  I vaguely remember (or think I remember?) reading that it's a no-no because the oil will seep through the shellac.

Is this true?  If a coat of oil is given a few days to cure, it's there a risk of this?

....................
BLO and shellac work well together, but why not try Tru-Oil?