When refinishing a piece you often need to revive the wood by sealing and coloring it. For that Peter Gedrys uses shellac, a versatile finish. It is an ideal sealer coat, and it can enhance the natural wood color. Many woodworkers avoid shellac, worried that they might not cut it with alcohol in the right proportions. Gedrys takes the mystery out of the cutting and shows how to eyeball the cut rather than try for exact measurements.

In this video, Gedrys uses brushes to apply shellac to legs and work it into corners but uses a pad to lay down a thin, smooth coat of shellac on tabletops and other broad surfaces. Learn how he makes his pad in a short video sidebar.

For the table he refinished, Gedrys uses a mix of dewaxed orange and garnet shellac, but there are a variety of other colors available. To add even more color, Gedrys recommends adding a few drops of dye concentrate, such as TransTint, to shellac, or using a glaze.

About the Video Series

Expert finisher Peter Gedrys, of East Haddam, Conn. guides you through all the steps of refinishing furniture from stripping an old finish to putting the final touches on a new one. Watch this segment and then find video links for the other steps in the refinishing process below.