I was hoping to get some finishing advice. I’m making a cocobolo display base for a brass bunny rabbit for my wife. So I made a nice curved soap bar shapped piece and then went ahead and sanded to 400. The wood looks very nice and is smooth and flat. So I decided to give shellac a try since after much reading it sounds like my usual finish of General Finishes seal a cell and arm r seal probably won’t stick. So I thought a base coat of shellac then maybe a topcoat of the arm r seal and go for a satin look.
Well I bought some Bulls Eye Sealcoat, mixed it 1:1 with some alcohol and bought a Purdey nylon/polyester 2″ angled brush. Got everything ready and made sure the workpiece was dust free using the air compressor and applied my first coat. I put it on each surface with 1 stroke, but it was very wet. This dried in about 20 minutes but there was a lot of streaks and runs. So I scuffed very lightly with 400 and then applied another coat. This time still very wet (maybe too much?) and the piece looks very streaky and runny.
I’m practicing on a scrap piece, but this doesn’t go on anything like the wipe on finish that I’m pretty comfortable with. It this what shellac should look like or apply like? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you-
Replies
First with two applications of 1 lb. cut shellac, even brushed on with the brush you used, is still almost no material--a lot fewer solids than if you had wiped on a coat of an oil/varnish mix. You wouldn't expect to start seeing a finished looking surface.
I don't thin quite so much. For brushing I use Seal Coat pretty much out of the can, or possibly with a dollop of DNA added. I prefer quite a bit different brush. I like a 1" or 1 1/2" watercolor wash brush with very fine synthetic bristles. It holds very little shellac, so puts down very thin coatings that aren't so wet that they could run. I don't worry about skipped spots or overlaps and never go back to deal with a defect. No need to sand between coats except perhaps to remove a major defect.
Other folks use large soft haired mop like brushes to flow on the shellac.
But I didn't begin with brushes at all. I began by wiping on the shellac. Again about 1 1/2 lb. cut shellac is a good middle ground. I use a wad of soft fabric, like a t-shirt, covered with fine woven sheeting material--all cotton, not synthetic. (some folks do fine just with t-shirt material, folded in to a pad so there are no wrinkles.) I load the pad with a plastic squeeze bottle (like a ketchup bottle) and just pad it on in smooth quick strokes. With this, as with brushing, if you feel the surface begin to drag, lift your pad and stop--instantly, let the surface dry a bit before continuing. No foldarol with oils and such. Just apply the shellac in short sessions stopping when you observe the drag. When it looks like you have covered evenly, then let it dry. Shellac is easy to sand out any defects that remain, and can be buffed up to any sheen you want.
When using it as a barrier coat, as with the coco bolo, stop when you have the equivalent of a couple of 2 lb. cut "coats", scuff sand with 400 grit and apply your varnish top coats.
Steve's right. I also started out with a 1# cut, but between it being thin to begin with and the fact that each coat re-dissolves the last, it's very difficult to get any build, especially if you're sanding between coats. I usually use a 1-1/2# cut now and a brush with really fine bristles.
I still say cocobolo does not need any finish.. Just polishing!
And hand oils keep it refreshed I think?
Edited 3/1/2009 1:35 am by WillGeorge
I was shellacing some drawer sides Friday. I make a "mouse" and prefer a material like cotton sheets or broadcloth. I fold up a smooth piece of T-shirt and wrap it with the sheet. I use the shellac straight from the can. I touch the pad to the shellac lightly and then apply it to the work in smooth but fairly fast strokes, going one end to the other. After five or six strokes, the shellac is immediately drying and the pad will stick. You learn to lay the shellac down to avoid the sticking. You can always re-wet the pad if you have left a mark and go back over.
This has to be one of the quickest finishing processes. I have spray equipment but this is faster, mess free and I don't even have to clean up dust in the shop. I don't intend on putting anything else on these pieces, just shellac. If I was using another type of top coat, I'd use the Sealcoat, otherwise, it's shellac straight from the can. There is no wet surface with this method, minimal grain raising and no dust nibs.
I don't use shellac as a finish for furniture but it would be fine for a display block. I would use something that has better resistance to cleaners, water, etc. than shellac has. I wish everything was so simple and gave such easy results.
Let me add a couple of comments. First, you are using the wrong brush. Shellac should be applied with a natural bristle brush although many finisher use a very high quality taklon artist brush.
Second, you are applying too much finish. Shellac wants to be applied very thinly.
Third, while it's fine to brush on the first coat, subsequent coats will come out better if they are padded on (wiped).
Finally, if all you are trying to accomplish is to establish a barrier coat between the oils in the cocobolo and a final oil based finish like Arm R Seal, one coat--unsanded--is all the shellac you need to apply.
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