Hey Folks,
Just finished putting on five coats of shellac, 2 lb cut. Just in time for my sons first birthday too.
Should i hit them with a fine grit sandpaper or 0000 steel wool, just to put a nice smooth finishing feel on??
Anyone, anyone, anyone??
Joe P in RI.
Replies
If you like the way it looks, you're done. Otherwise, you have leveling and "rubbing out" to do.
On furniture, I level with 320, then work up through 400, 600, 4-0 steel wool, rubbing compound, polishing compound, swirl remover.
Such attention to a flight of stairs would be a back breaking and frustrating experience.
Leveling just with 320, then a last coat of thin shellac, very carefully sprayed would be my "finishing" of a staircase.
Rich
Rich, thanks for the reply.
Cant spray a final coat. What about a final pass with 320 grit and a 1lb cut wiped on?
Joe P
Joe, if it has the look you want, I would just apply a light coat of wax, rubbed on with one of the synthetic steel wool pads, and call it good.
joe,I agree with jigs-n-fixtures.It's a stairway. I'd call it finished and wouldn't even bother with wax.But we all have our own definition of "finished."(I HAVE given wide, 2-3 step stairways that were transitions from one room level to another the "full furntiure" treatment)Give one tread a 320 sanding followed by a 1# padded coat. Live with it for a week, then decide if you really need to do the rest.Rich
Joe,
I don't think you want a coat of wax on your stairs. If you sand with 320 and put on a light wipe on coat, you should be fine.
Alternatively, if you like the look now and just want to smooth it out a little, you could rub with 0000 steel wool using mineral spirits for a lubricant. This will give you a semi-gloss, the above method would be more glossy until the stairs get used for a while. I would think that the gloss would call more attention to the wear on the walking areas.
Rob
"the above method would be more glossy"
what method would be more glossy, the 0000 steel wood with mineral, or the 320 with wax?
sorry, gotta ask.
Joe P in RI
Joe,
Sanding with 320 and then adding another wipe on coat will be quite glossy. Rubbing with 0000 steel wool and a lubricant (wax, mineral spirits, water with a couple drops of dish washing soap, etc.) will give you a satin to semi-gloss, depending on the lubricant or lack thereof.
Rob
joepez,
5 coats of 2# cut is too thick!
You will have issues. Not right away maybe decades down the road.. I would sand some of that off using 220 grit to start. Always use a sanding block! If you use your hands you will never achieve the sort of depth that shellac is capable of. Once you have it uniformly flat matt looking with no shiney spots you'll want to switch to 320. This will go a lot faster from now on, all you need to do is give a light but complete sanding using the 320. You aren't trying to remove shellac what you are trying to do is smooth out the grooves left by the grit in the previous grade.. then switch to a 400 grit paper followed by 600 grit and then 1000 grit. Some will stop at this point and switch to steel wool but I've had better results continuing in grit up to 4000 and then polishing..
After the first sanding with 220 grit I would expect the sandpaper to last the whole stairs without replacement.. To speed up the process you can use a DA sander.. or what is called a random orbital sander. I know they make disks up to 320. Past that you will need to use a sanding block of some sort..
Five coats of 2 lb. cut is just fine, especially if there has been any sanding between coats or a final rub out.
Steve,
I think that's what I said.. Please reread it! I said that it would require final color sanding and carefully described how to do it..
Leave 5 coats of 2 pound cut and I'm positive that you will down the road get alligatoring. I don't know if it would happen in a decade or not. I know that it will happen..
I am quite confident that 5 or 6 brushed on coats of 2 lb. cut shellac is not going to alligator down the road, even without extensive rubbing out. Two-pound cut has less solids contents (roughly 23% by weight, 16% by volume) than most wipe on varnish (Waterlox Original is 26% solids by wt.) and 5 coats would be less thickness than about two coats of full strength brush on varnish. If wiped on the film would be even thinner.
Shellac is much more versatile than you give it credit. You can make it look rather like an in-the-wood oil finish with virtually nothing on the surface, which is basically what you get with your ultra thin recommendations, but it can also be build to reasonable film thicknesses. Until you start getting really carried away, it's largely an aesthetic choice, not a durability issue.
To All,
I should have said I wiped it on with a cloth applicator. I put it on fairly liberal too.
I must say, it is so easy (shellac) to work with. And the look is fantastic, I can honestly say it brings depth to the wood, with a perfect sheen.
Thanks to all.
PS: I decided to do a final rub out because I feel I've come this far, why not make them perfect, (in my mind).
will post the final pics soon, too!
I was going to say "rub it out with #0000 and wax" until I saw it was a staircase.
I'd leave it alone, it will be buffed by tiny feet going up and down them. In another year or two you can have your son slide down the stairs in corderoy pants to buff it up some more.
An my $0.02 about 5 coats of 2# cut is that you can't make sweeping statements about it being too much unless you know how heavy a coat was put down. If you glom it on with a brush, it may be too much. If you wipe (pad) it on in thin coats, 5 coats is just getting started.
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