Replies

1. 
   cdukes | Nov 02, 2007 07:56pm | #1

   Peter,

   I'm very interested in your answers to this questions too ... I'm working on a small table with a maple and walnut top and am having the exact same issue ... it's like someone sprayed some kind of shellac resist on a corner of the table top. Everywhere else the shellac is going down perfectly.

   Chip

2. 
   peter28 | Nov 06, 2007 04:25pm | #2

   Bob,

   Are the spots you speak of random or in the same place?

   I suspect it is your technique and pad and not the shellac.

   There are any number of causes; if the cover on your pad is too thick, like tee shirt material, it could be dragging and "burning" the finish in spots.

   Remedy; use a very thin outer cover. You can find them at Homestead or Woodworkers supply in the form of "trace cloth" I buy mine from a distributor of rags and wiping material. It is very fine and lint free so the shellac will flow through it. Check your local phone book for something like this.

   If your inner core is too hard or has wrinkles in the face, you will transfer a line or "burn" to the surface. Are you using tee shirt material?

   Again, a distributor of wiping material is my source. For general padding I use a high grade cheese cloth for my core (not the type you get in a craft store). I'll also use an old wool sock which holds and distributes shellac extremely well.

   If the cover starts to dry out around the edges and get hard, it will leave a mark in the surface. 

   As habit, I always remove my cover before charging the pad with shellac. If it starts to build around the edges, I will REMOVE IT, wet it well with alcohol to re-soften the shellac. When doing this, let the alcohol in the cover evaporate fairly well before continuing. If you go over the surface with a cover too wet in alcohol you'll pull the shellac already there (AND HOW DO I KNOW THAT?)

   One other note; in a correspondence with the other poster here, he thought it was because he had somewhat of an end grain in the surface. Is that a condition of your piece?

   Let me know how you progress.

   Peter

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

1. 
   rhargy | Nov 06, 2007 08:06pm | #3

   Peter -

    

   Thanks for the reply and I'll certainly let you know how I make out. From your counsel I suspect it might be the cover I am using. It certainly isn't an end grain condition, that part of the project has been looking very good. The only thing that has puzzled me is that the spots are random and I used a brush for application to see if I could recover it. The shellac still did not take.

   Best Regards

   Bob

1. 
   peter28 | Nov 07, 2007 02:12am | #4

   Bob,

   If the shellac is not taking, and god knows it sticks to almost anything, it makes me think there is some type of contamination present.

   Was there any type of silicone present in any form? anywhere?

   If the piece is not that big you may try removing the shellac and starting fresh.

   A very simple and quick way to do this is to cover the surface with some type of industrial paper towel. Put some denatured alcohol in a squeeze bottle and use this to wet the towels well. Smooth them out so there are no air bubbles and then cover it with plastic or newspaper to contain the alcohol.

   In about ten minutes you can start rolling back the towels and wiping the shellac off. Done in stages it is very simple to do.

   Maybe starting fresh will do the trick.

   Keep me posted.

   Peter

1. 
   rhargy | Nov 07, 2007 03:30am | #5

   Peter

   Again, thanks for the extra pointers. I can't imagine where silicone would be coming from (which is a far cry from saying that it's not there) but I will certainly do some sluething to see if it might be the culprit. I really like the softening tip as the scraping and sanding that I've been doing to date is wearisome at best. It'll be another couple of weeks before I can get back to it, but I will certainly let you know the outcome.

   Best Regards

   Bob

1. 
   rhargy | Dec 01, 2007 04:31pm | #6

   Peter -

   Promised to follow up and am happy to report the project is finished. The short version is that the work around was somewhat different than expected. I ended up "patting" the shellac on to the affected areas and building it up to the point where it would seem to take the "padding" technique and could be blended right in. Realize that I haven't solved the root cause, but never could figure out what was going on in time to finish the project for a Xmas present. Will continue to work on the real problem in the future and really appreciate the pointers as they helped along the way. Have a great holiday season.

   Best Regards

   Bob