Shellac Refinishing

[wbranko]

Thanks to many of you who viewed or voted in my poll...it was 100% to use shellac, so I will. I haven't used shellac in years. I have bought a premixed can of 3# cut shellac and am thinking about cutting it to 1.5# and spraying it. I am interested in the techniques that you might recommend...is brushing or wiping better? If so, should it be 3#, 2#, etc? Any hints you all might have would be helpful to guide me. I appreciate the assistance!

[wbranko]

Thanks to many of you who viewed or voted in my poll...it was 100% to use shellac, so I will. I haven't used shellac in years. I have bought a premixed can of 3# cut shellac and am thinking about cutting it to 1.5# and spraying it. I am interested in the techniques that you might recommend...is brushing or wiping better? If so, should it be 3#, 2#, etc? Any hints you all might have would be helpful to guide me. I appreciate the assistance!

[mrb]

if you dont have much experience you would be better served using a i part shellac two parts solution. thinner coats will give you more control

[Dan Treppa]

Hi Wbranko,

I've tried all types of finishes and have gone back to shellac. I pretty much follow Phil's method and achieve excellent results. If I have any light spots in the wood from repairs, after the second coat I mix a little pigment in the shellac and paint the repaired spots until the color is right. The third coat then "melts" the edge of the repair and blends it in very good.

Good luck, I think you will like working with shellac!

[wbranko]

Dan, Phil and mrb,

Thanks for your help. Any guidance on brush vs. spray? I am familiar with spraying deft lacquer, and have had good success with this. I figure spraying shellac should be similar, but should I try brushing instead? What do you think? What gives a better finish?

Bill

[Fred Johnston]

I recently put a shellac finish on new wood parts that replaced missing parts on a very old longcase hood: stain, amber shellac, and amber shellac with alcohol soluble dyes which enabled a satisfactory match to the existing finish within 3 coats, then adjusting sheen with steel wool. The only problem I had was a custom planed four fluted moulding finial pedestal which stained so unevenly I had to add some burnt umber pigment in shellac on one coat of that face to even out the color.The owner is delighted with the results.

Fred

[bbwatch]

Fred,

Where did you get the pigment? From a refinisher supply or art supply? What is the pigment base? oil, acrilic?

Barry B

[craig]

Phil,
Try Transtint dye from Homestead Finishing. It's an alcohol-soluble dye that is colorfast. Homestead also has ground pigments. The dye works great as a toner in shellac. You can make nearly any color under the sun and as saturated of a color as you want. Heavily dyed shellac may be best shot on rather than padded or brushed on.
WBranko,
You've chosen wisely to go with shellac. You can pad or brush shellac with good results. Use a good brush like Taklon nylon that holds a lot. When brushing, you flow on the shellac. You don't brush back and forth. I bought my brushes from a local hobby shop (MJD/Michaels) Padding is easy too. I use an old pinpoint oxford shirt as the outer wrap because it has little or no lint, and they hold up well. You can get these old shirts at Goodwill or Salvation Army.
Regarding premixed containers of shellac, I shy away from them. Shellac is like milk. It has an expiration date. Check your date on the container. It's easy to make your own shellac. While you're buying your dye or pigment, also get a pound of orange shellac flakes. Flake form shellac has an indefinite shelf life. Once you use shellac (original finish on ALL wood clock cases where the grain shows through), you will never use varnish again. Sure, there's a little bit of a learning curve. I tried different finishes out at first and was never satisfied until I met Mr. Shellac. I prefer to shoot my shellac when using a dye in it. You'll get good color consistency that way. If you have any detail areas, you may want to get an airbrush. Shoot at 25 PSI for either the airbrush or the quart/pint sprayer
When spraying shellac use a water-thin consistency or you will get orange peel. Also, if you get shellac flakes, cut it with denatured alcohol. If you end up with blushing, you can cut it with straight ethanol as it has a slower drying time. Slower drying means the surface temps will not drop as much. Lower surface temps in the summer spell disaster for any evaporative finish because the dew point is so high with high humidity summer days.
Sorry, Phil. I only use OOOO steel wool and pigmented paste wax to even out the sheen. The 000 leaves scratches and is too aggressive on the corners. Then after that I use pumice/oil to bring the sheen back up slightly on the flat surfaces. A little pigmented wax follow-up will be your final treatment. Let me know if you need more info.
Orange shellac is great and comes in waxed or dewaxed. I like the dewaxed because it is a stronger finish, clearer, and is more water resistant. An it's reversible. If you don't like what you've just padded, brushed, or sprayed on then get out the denatured and wipe it off. Shellac is so easy to work with. :smile:
Seedlac is good for padding or brushing, but will stop up your gun. Some conservators like seedlac because it has all the "parts" in it and has good color.

[Fred Johnston]

Barry,
A pigment is finely ground very small particle insoluble powder. The dyes dissolve in the alcohol in shellac. White paint is titanium dioxide pigment suspended in latex. I bought burnt umber pigment (iron oxide, finely ground and sieved brown "rust") from Utrech artists supply in Boston. It can be suspended in whatever vehicle you like. Here I used some in shellac where stain failed to give enough color uniformity on the front of a replacement fluted pedestal . In the past I've used it to match the color of the clock door window glazing in an 1820 Connecticut column and splat shelf clock, mixing it in with glazing compound from the hardware store to match the color of what was still there as best I could.

Fred

[wbranko]

Craig, Fred, and all,

You are all way beyond my skill level...but that's OK!!! I'm learning a lot from this discussion! On the clock I'm working on right now, I put on a red mahogany stain that gave me a good even color. I've bought a can of Zinnser Amber Shellac, date 11/03 (so less than 1 yr old), and then cut it as Phil indicated by half shellac, half denatured alcohol...1 1/2 pound cut. I've been experimenting brushing it on to some scrap wood in the shop. I like what I see so far. I will try to practice spray some later in the week...Craig, is 1 1/2 pound thin enough to spray? The coloring discussion is really interesting...but for me, that will probably be a future clock, as my skill improves. I want to thank everyone again.

My two questions...amber shellac vs. clear shellac or other; and is 1 1/2 pound cut the right mix to spray?

By the way...I am used to finishing deft with 0000 steel wool, and I'll probably stick to 0000 for shellac since you all seem to agree in it's use!

Bill