Getting a nice finish with shellac?

[White House Workshop]

Most of my finishing has been either in oil/wax or varnish, usually water-based, but recently I've been experimenting with shellac and I just can't seem to get a good finish.

I've tried on bare wood. Naturally it soaks in, and after a few coats builds up to a passable finish, but it's always streaky or blotchy.

I tried oiling the wood first with tung oil or linseed oil. Even tried teak oil. The shellac didn't soak in quite as much, but still a rough finish.

For now I've given up on french polishing as most of my pieces are small and the surfaces are not smooth for more than a few square inches!

When the shellac in the 2 methods above has dried, I have tried rubbing it down with 0000 wire wool and then waxing, but I never get more than a reasonable satin sheen finish. Even so, I have had instances where the shellac doesn't seem to have dried completely in one or two small areas so it 'pulls' and makes a right mess, necessitating complete strip and restart. If I leave it for longer to make sure it's dry, it goes so hard that it's really difficult getting a smooth finish without taking it all off corners and edges.

Anyway, I'm frustrated and for the time being have gone back to water-based brushing of varnish. It doesn't give a fabulous finish as the brushmarks are just as hard to get out as the blotches on the shellac, but at least it looks good, especially if I stick to satin finishes and don't go with gloss.

High gloss would be nice on some of my items. What am I doing wrong?

PS - I have tried pads, sponges and brushes as applicators, all with the same results. I don't have access to spray equipment.

 

[r896neo]

What timber are you trying it on?

In my limited experience it doesn't take well to open grained woods as you would have to heavily fill the grain first which is why you rarely see oak or the like with a shellac finish.

On mahogany or walnut for example i have got pretty good results pretty quickly, When i say quickly i mean after not having done any before, not it didn't take long.

Obviously you need a good finish on the bare wood but then you need to seal the grain first. Rather than try and do this with extra coats of polish use sanding sealer which you then sand to a super fine finish the next day with 320 grit. I leave it overnight between coats to make sure and only use a dribble of linseed oil on the rubber at the very end. Aside from that i followed the instructions on various sites/ books and it has worked well on a couple of pieces i have made.

Persist! the finish is worth it.

P.S did you mix up your own polish from flakes? Check the strength as this would obviously mess up the drying process.

 

[White House Workshop]

I'm using cherry at the moment, but have tried it on sapele and black walnut with similar results. The wood finish is taken to the point where it gleams without any finish on it, so it's pretty fine I think.

I've used sanding sealer in the past and to be honest I didn't notice much difference between that and applying the finish directly. Maybe I rubbed it out too far and took it all off? With extremely fine grit paper that seems unlikely.

I've got a container of Liberon premixed blonde shellac. It's very light indeed as I often use hard maple and don't want any accentuation of the colour, just enough to bring up the grain slightly whilst retaining the almost white of the wood.

 

[r896neo]

i wipe on the sanding sealer quite liberally but aside from that its hard to know where your going wrong. what are you using as a rubber? and are you using oil at all.

My first few efforts were a little streaky at first but this faded to a better finish as i applied more.

My know how ends here so hopefully a master polisher will be along to point out what might help.

I followed quite maticulously a method on a website but cant remember it now, will check tommorow when in workshop as its where i bought supplies. I'll post it then.

 

[White House Workshop]

I'm using a well stuffed cotton pad as a rubber and just a little oil (as it says in my book on how to do it). I think I'm just going to have to practice, practice, practice. We could end up with some nice shiny bits of pine!

 

[Philly]

WHW
To get a decent build of shellac I usually apply three or four coats one after another. Leave to go off and then apply another set. Give a light sanding to remove any marks, etc, and then apply another set.
Four sets like this usually give me a pretty good shine. If you are still having streaking problems you may want to mix your own shellac from flakes - easy to do . And you can then control the strength of the mix - a stronger mix lets you build up coats quickly.
Shellac also sinks down once it truly dries out - leave a few days to cure and you'll see previously obvious marks disappear.
Hope this helps
Philly

 

[r896neo]

again in my limited experience i only used oil right at the very end.

I just kept adding coats to build it up and then only used oil for the last coat, I have mixed my own polish from flake form a little stronger than recommended so maybe that helps as philly says.

 

[White House Workshop]

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[johnnyb]

start your pilishing with a reasonable size peice of beech. this should polish literally like glass as their are no poires to fill. then try mahogany using grain filler. try to get as much polish on the piece as possible whilst keeping the surface flat(ish) the oil is used at this stage to stop the rubber sticking to a thick layer of polish. allow to dry overnight. using 400or 500 grit silicon carbide and white spirit, flat the surface the surface(being extremely careful to avoid the edges) should be as much like a flat, but dull surface as you can be bothered to acheive. this can then be polished with t cut to a beautiful glassy sheen if the polish layer is thick enough. or further polishing followed by adding about 30 or 40% meths to the polish and easing right off with the pressure this will result in the same effect. but if you have that flat scratched hazy surface you will acheive a glassy polish with ease. with open grain wood dont use the t cut technique as it will leave white in the grain.

 

[mailee]

I always use sanding sealer as a base for all of my finishes but nitrocellulose based as this dries very quickly and has been mentioned can be overcoated a few times. I generally put two or three heavy coats on if I want a high shine or sheen. I have tried the spirit based sanding sealer but find it never really sets hard, (well not in one day anyway) and gave this up for the celulose based instead. virtually all finishes can be used over these without any problems. Hope this helps. It is more expensive than the spirit based one though. :wink: