Hello all! I haven’t been around in some time, but I’ve come ’round to humbly ask for your help to fix my ugly, ugly box.
I’ve been experimenting with Copperas chemical staining, with good results on oak (a tip I picked up somewhere on this forum), but not so good results on cherry. Attached is a picture of the box with some unsightly white streaks and patches. Any ideas what could be causing this or how I can fix it?
Could it be a reaction of the shellac to the beastly heat and humidity we’ve been suffering through of late, or is it a reaction between the alcohol and the ferrous sulphate? I finished the copperas oak table with a spray lacquer and it turned out great – I don’t currently have access to a spray booth or gun, but I could use rattle-can lacquer if the shellac proves a no-go (would I have to remove the shellac completely in that case? how?).
Thanks for any help you can provide!
Replies
You might get more responces if you move this to the "Finishing" forum.
Ooops.
Right you are, sir!
Thanks!
It's likely that you have a reaction with the Fe SO4 residual and other reaction products that result when you apply the iron sulfate to the wood. Shellac is acidic in nature and residual iron sulfate is a reducing agent, which would leave other salts on the surface. My knowledge of chemistry is wholly inadequate for me to speculate as to what chemical reactions are occurring. Since oak and cherry (and even different examples of them) You might get different results with a lacquer that has different chemistry.
All that said, and I'm not sure it was of any help, I'd suggest that you look harder at using commercial dyes. My guess is you could achieve indistinquishable results, that would be more repeatable.
Thank you, Steve, that sounds about right. Any suggestions for how to strip down the shellac?
I've used transtint dyes on several other projects with success, I just thought I might try an experiment or two! Ah well, you win some, you lose some!
Thanks again!
Alcohol should take care of it.
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