Between projects, Toward a Millers Falls Red
#5
Among other things lately, I have been following Don Williams at donsbarn.com.    It's clear that he likes both wax and shellac.   An interesting recap of one of his classes is on the Renaissance Woodworker website, as:

    "Next was the topic of waxed vs dewaxed shellac. I have been told so many times that waxed shellac will interfere with subsequent coats of finish and that dewaxed should always be used. Don busted this myth citing his 40+ years of experience and strengthened the stance that shellac will bond to any type of finish whether waxed or not. Moreover, waxed shellac has a much, much longer shelf life.

   “Kept in a cool, dry place, you can expect your shellac to last around 300 years” said Don. He then went on to tell us he had just purchased 2300 lbs of the stuff in preparation for the coming apocalypse. This coming from a guy wearing alien head suspenders. "


I really should get into one of his classes, but there's no time for a few years out.  Still I can get inspiration.  I posted some personal experiments on burnishing wood a few weeks back.

Lately, I got a Millers Falls plane which was believed to be a No. 9....

   



Both wood handles were the goncalo wood that was "red" back in the day.  All I did after gluing their cracks was a scraping (steel scraper card), a burnishing (antler tip), a coat of red / oxblood shoe-wax, followed by a brush coat of shellac directly over the wax.

   



Glory be, the No.9 is actually a No. 10 !   And it's a decent color match on the handles.  Next time (if I get so lucky again) I'll try not to darken the finish so much after the tinted wax.  But, so far, that shellac-over-wax finish is very hard and tenacious.

   




Enjoy y'allselves,

Chris
Chris
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#6
Nice.  And to score a No. 10 (similar to the Stanley 4-1/2) is great!
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#7
Nice job, big Millers Falls fan here.
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#8
Nice to see a restoration pictured....used to be so many here.
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