Tinting shellac

[Ian]

Anyone know what can be used to colour shellac black?

I recently enquired about staining wood black and found black shellac polish to be great but fount it quite pricey - so was hoping to mix my own.

Cheers

IAn

 

[houtslager]

Aniline dyes are used to tint and make full bodied coloured polish, when used with the correct grade of FP ie, blonde,pale ruby or garnet etc..

hth,\









karl

 

[Ian]

Thanks Karl - do you know are they available in the UK?

Best

Ian

 

[morrik27]

have you tried Finneys? www.finneyswoodfinishes.co.uk

I did a one-to-one intro to french polishing, two hours in the evening last year, It was worth every penny, including the drive from cambridge to sheffield, and back 3 hours later!

if you give him a call, he'll point you in the right direction! very friendly, HONEST, and helpful.

I think you can add in powdered spirit stain to the shelac, but Mark will certainly give you all the info you need, he can also post stuff out to you, generally the same day!

 

[Ian]

Many thanks - I emailed Mark and he was very helpful.

Best

Ian

 

[morrik27]

He really is very pasionate about his skill! Out of interest what did he say? Was i right in thinking the addition of the spirit stains would help?

 

[Ian]

Below is what he suggested.


What to do ;

Add black spirit powder into white meths to produce a concentrate and then mix this into a liquid shellac. Stir thoroughly.You can add a bit of black powder colour to increase the depth.

For an even deeper black apply our black trade water based woodstain first.


Cheers

IAn

 

[morrik27]

That's what I hoped he'd say ! ( I was only about 95% sure so I didn't want to give duff info).....

Nice idea with the stain - didn't think of that, but does seem pretty obvious now you point it out!

 

[twothumbs]

Just joined the forum. You could try the old trick of breaking into small pieces, an old 78 rpm gramaphone record. Presumably they are still around in junk shops. You will only need one as they are quite large. Soak the small pieces in meths probably with a tight cover and let it desolve. You then have pure black shellac which is what the rcords were made of. I haven't used it myself as yet, but definately worth the experiment as it will be pure and as thick as you want and jet black. I don't think it will take very long to disolve and an occassional shake should help it it along. It could even be a piano finish in the end. Interested to hear if you try it and how it turns out for you.

 

[morrik27]

Just joined the forum. You could try the old trick of breaking into small pieces, an old 78 rpm gramaphone record. Presumably they are still around in junk shops. You will only need one as they are quite large. Soak the small pieces in meths probably with a tight cover and let it desolve. You then have pure black shellac which is what the rcords were made of. I haven't used it myself as yet, but definately worth the experiment as it will be pure and as thick as you want and jet black. I don't think it will take very long to disolve and an occassional shake should help it it along. It could even be a piano finish in the end. Interested to hear if you try it and how it turns out for you.

Might make for an interesting experiement! and worth a punt for 10p at a car boot for an old max bygraves!