In the May/June 1998 issue of FWW, Jeff Jewitt did an article on finishing cherry. In it he offered an instant aging technique that called for the use of a wash coat of shellac as both the base coat and to be used again after dying the surface with a water based dye. Steps one and two went as planed, but when I brushed on a one pound cut of shellac over the dye, I experienced some ‘spotting’ (not sure how else to describe it). It was almost like a water drop had dried on the finish. The effect was random, but noticible enough that I was thankful that I was using a test board. Have you a thoughts on what I may have done wrong? In re-reading the article, I see that I did not lightly scuff sand the dyed surface. As a part of my test, I applied a wipe on poly over the the dyed surface without using shellac as a sealer coat and did not encounter any problem. However, I really did like the effect on the finished color that the garnet shellac provided.
Thanks – Bill
Replies
Bill,
After you put the dye on you didn't splash any water did you? You can easily water spot a dye like this.
What type of dye did you use? Was it a transtint or one you made from powder?
Is it possible when brushing the shellac you had a couple of holidays or skips in the application? If you did, this would result in a dull spot. I don't think you pulled the dye although without looking at something sometimes it's hard to make a definitive call.
Also, and this is just my opinion, I never sand a dye prior to coating unless I was looking to "damage" or remove some of the color for a specific reason.
Give me a little follow up on the dye.
Good for you for taking the time to do sample boards.
Peter
Peter,
Thanks for your response. The die that I used was JE Moser's Aniline Dye (water soluble). I'm pretty sure that I didn't get any water on the boards - I encountered this on two separate boards using the same type of dye but in two different colors. The spots did appear almost as water spots, and they did not appear on the whole board (I had a 7"x18" board that I had resawn for my sample board) but more toward the end that I started my brush stroke from. Nor were there that many, only maybe 6 or 8, but they were noticible enough that I knew I should look for an answer before proceeding. I had only let the dye dry for about 24 hours - might that not have been long enough - the shop is in my basement so temperature is consistant at about 70 degrees. I'll plane off the finish and try again this weekend.
I know it's most difficult to identify a problem when you can't see it - but I really appreciate your thoughts.
Bill
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