Shellac Question

[Minh]

This may be a little OT given that it's related to wood + shellac, but
the wood are bike grips. I'm in the process of refinishing some dia-
compe wood grips. This is the first time i have used shellac, and
definately the first time with wood. I'm using a can of premixed
amber zinnser from the hardware store.

I sanded down the grips and restained last week and then over the
weekend applied a few coats. Overall i'm pretty happy with it but
this being my first time i know i made a few mistakes. The biggest
being i think i applied it on too thick, so it's not completly smooth,
there are runs etc. Is there an easy way to smooth these out? Could
i go over them with denat-alcohol and smooth it out? Fine grit
sandpaper?

Functionally i think they are fine and i could live with them, but if
there is a trick to polish them out i'd like to give it a try.

Here's a link to the work in progress, http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwLUQVY

i also did my first kickstand too, looks good, but not sure if i could
use a shellac'd bar full time on the handlebars, maybe for the
secondary areas...

[Lyle Bogart]

Yup, looks a little thick :)

 

Shellac sands up pretty easily, just make sure the shellac is completely dry first. I'd use ~120 grit paper until the wood feels smooth and even. Then apply a few light coats of shellac. My personal preference would then be to "finish" the grip by buffing with 0000 steel wool. That'll give them a satin look and, again my preference, a nicer feel.

 

Hope this helps,

 

lyle

 

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lyle f bogart dpt

156 bradford rd

wiscasset, me 04578

207.882.6494

206.794.6937

[Allan in Portland]

I've had similar problems with Zisser's and wood. Alcohol will always re-soften shellac. Supposedly that's one of the advantages, you can always fix it. The problem I run into is keeping the pigmentation consistent while I'm "fixing" it. On the flip side, it means you can always completely start over, and sometimes that is easiest. Another two bits of advice is to cut the Zissers from the can by 25-50% with alcohol. It makes it a lot easier to build up multiple coats a little at a time. Since this isn't finish carpentry, I reckon you have a lot of room for error. :-)

Best of luck,
-Allan

[Smitty-A-Go-Go]

I've tried fixing dark spots by brushing on denatured alcohol... it's a can of worms I would recommend NOT opening. I've tried it twice. First time I ended up giving the whole thing (cork grips) a bath in denatured alcohol and starting over with thin coats. There was a little marbling effect left over from the botched attempt but now that the grips have been in use for over a year it's a non-issue. Second time was on a coat rack made of curly maple. Again I applied amber shellac too thick and tried to fix it by brushing den-alco on the dark spots. It got really ugly (splotchy) really fast. I ended up sanding the whole thing back to bare wood and starting over with thin coats of clear shellac to let the curly grain shine through better. 

The grips in the pics look great! I imagine if you put them on as-is and started riding, any short comings in the shellac will soon be minimized to a non-issue with a little busage.

[Minh]

Thanks fellas! I was not sure how forgiving the shellac would be, but
some heavy sanding to even it out and a thin top-coat has them feeling
much better in the hand. It's still a little thick, but i can live
with it. I'm going to get the bike built up before i decide if i'll
go with the matte finish that lyle suggested.

[Lyle Bogart]

Don't forget pics of the final build :)

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[Allan in Portland]

One thing about steel wool is you need to a very thorough clean-up with tack cloth and mineral spirits. Otherwise the wool dust will rust.

-Allan

[Lyle Bogart]

I haven't noticed rusting yet in either cabinet-making or boatbuilding. I usually only wipe with a dry cloth or, if I've one close to hand, a tack cloth. Perhaps I've been lucky!

 

lyle 

On 8 November 2011 11:41, Allan in Portland <allan...@aracnet.com> wrote:

One thing about steel wool is you need to a very thorough clean-up with tack cloth and mineral spirits. Otherwise the wool dust will rust.

-Allan

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[Allan in Portland]

Well, I'm always one to defer to others' first-hand experience. I've always read the warning about steel wool, but seldom use it myself.

Regards,
-Allan

[Minh]

Hi guys, here's a picture of the grips on the bike, look great!

[Minh]

grr, with link http://flic.kr/p/aEbdkY

[Lyle Bogart]

Beautiful! And a fine build overall, too! 

lyle

On 12 November 2011 21:25, Minh <mgian...@gmail.com> wrote:

grr, with link http://flic.kr/p/aEbdkY

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