I am trying to finish up a piano bench that was supposed to be my wife’s Christmas present last year (or maybe the year before).
I’ve decided to use shellac, as I have never used it before, and I’ve been told it was easy to work with.
Anyway, I’m wondering if I’ve got some bad shellac. It’s just Zinsser Clear, and the manufacture date says 04/07. I’ve heard that the shelf life is around a year. In any case, the finish seems pretty soft.
Since I’ve never used shellac, how hard should the dried finish be? Right now I can dent it with my finger nail. Is “good” shellac similar in hardness to lacquer?
Replies
t,
Dry shellac is every bit as hard as lacquer. If the batch you have has not dried to an extremely hard condition after 24 hours, it is indeed "bad." You should not be able to make the slightest dent with a fingernail and the surface should easily sand to a fine powder without the slightest tendency to gum up the sandpaper.
Get a fresh supply. You'll need to remove the gummy stuff from your work piece, either with applications of alcohol-soaked rags or by sanding it off.
Rich
You can easily mix your own shellac, and then you'll be sure it isn't bad. You can get shellac flakes from suppliers like Woodcraft or Rockler. You simply mix them with alcohol (it may take overnight to fully disolve) in the proportion ("cut") you want. You can also get clear (blonde), orange or garnet. The non-clear shellacs can look better on some wood species -- I like garnet over cherry, for example.
Fortunately, shellac is very easy to repair. Just wipe the bad finish off with a rag soaked in alcohol, and have another go.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Rich, Mike,
Thanks for replying. It's nice to know that at least this finishing problem can be blamed on the materials, and not on my technique! I'll be picking up some flakes later today.
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