I brushed on a light finish coat/first coat of 2 lb. garnet shellac on sanded cherry but had to overlap it some and also had some back brushing (brush was cheap and the bristles separated while brushing so it didn’t cover everything in one swipe); in the glare of sunlight/backlighting I can now see streaks and the surface is rough. Can I lightly sand to remove the streaks and depend upon subsequent coats to improve the finish?
Please advise – don’t want to mess this up any further,
Thanks
Brian
Replies
You can expect to improve the look with subsequent coats. But the first thing to do is to get a good brush. I find watercolor wash brushes with Taklon Gold synthetic bristles to be very good. Or other similar brushes from an artists supply store. Or you can pad on the shellac. Lots of people find that easier, although it can take a bit longer than brushing to generate the desired film.
Ligher cuts 1 1/2 lb. or even 1 lbs are more foregiving. And, don't worry about the missed spots, or the small overlaps. You can get the misses on the these on the next pass, and just avoid any overlaps in the same places.
The roughness of the surface is also normal after the first coat. It's just a bit of grain raising, and differential absorption of the shellac into the grain. Hit it lightly with some 320 grit and go on. You don't need to sand between each coat. I only sand when I have a major screw up. Then I scrape and sand to level out and go on from there.
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