Finishing: Shellac over oil
Raul da Silva
I'm close to completing a black walnut Edwardian bookcase and it's time
to think about a finish. I'd like to really enhance the color and
figure of the wood and have decided to start with some type of oil base
coat followed by shellac. I've used shellac directly on many projects,
but never over oil. Any tips? What have you found to be the best oil
for a base coat? (Linseed, Watco, etc.) Oil drying times? Any tips to
prevent blotching and over saturation in figure areas of the wood?
Any suggestions are welcome.
Raul da Silva
San Francisco, CA
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John Shear
I hope this Jeff Jewitt article is helpful to you. I also have his Hand
Applied Finishes book which is a good reference.
http://www.assoc-restorers.com/r-articles/padding_shellac.html
Boiled Lindseed Oil and Watco will give you the same effect, that is
sealing the wood and popping the grain. Watco has some varnish in it
which is nice if that's your main finish. Since you're covering with
shellac, just doing the BL oil is fine. Or, if Watco is what you have, go
ahead and use it.
I give the oil two days to cure before I apply shellac. It's kind of
dependant on how much you apply and how fast it cures in your
environment. Like Jeff indicates, you only need to wipe on just enough
to wet the surface, not flood it like you might with a typical danish oil
finish.
Then you don't have any blotching issues, or at least I haven't.
I haven't been doing the oil and shellac combo for long, so let's see what
the gurus here have to say.
Btw, what color shellac you using? I'd like to see pictures of the
finished product
if you have a Web site.
--
John Shear
John McGaw
pretty much fool-proof (or is that me-proof?). I started using tung oil and
it worked well but I eventually cnanged over to boiled linseed because it
dries faster. In any case I usually try to leave linseed oil for at least
three days before padding on shellac. In the case of walnut, I've had good
luck with orange shellac. For some lighter woods a garnet shellac works
nicely. BTW linseed oil seems to darken the color more than the tung.
--
John McGaw
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
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Raul da Silva
Thanks for the information and link. I think I'll go with the boiled
linseed since things I've read about the long drying times for tung oil
have made me decide against it.
I have a bit more than a pound of super blonde dewaxed left over from my
last project, so I thought I'd use that. I figured that the walnut would
be dark enough with the oil that going with a darker shade of shellac would
be unnecessary. Would using garnet really darken it further or just mute
the tone? I'm not really sure exactly how dark I want the piece.
The only other thing I'm a bit worried about is getting a even coat of
shellac on the whole piece. Being Edwardian, it has raised panels, classic
coves, beads, flutes and dentil moldings (50% of the project's time was
trim routing and installation). *Lots* of nooks and crannies. I thought I
might try spraying the shellac, at least on the top and bottom trim
molding. I have only padded shellac and rubbed out in the past. Have
either of you had any success spraying shellac?
I'll try to post some pictures when it's done. I don't have a web site
(yet another thing to do), but I could post them in one of the
alt.pictures.yada.yada.yada.. groups.
Raul da Silva
San Francisco, CA
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Roland H Horst
Boiled Linseed Oil and orange shellac is the best finish for Walnut, I think. I
just refinished a victorian hall tree with this finish. I don't have orange
shellac at home, only super blonde and garnet. I mixed one part garnet with two
parts super blonde. This is a very dark finish, but I needed it to hide traxes
of the white paint that was left. You might go with a lighter mixture.
The darker shellacs add a very nice reddish tone to the wood.
Roland
Raul da Silva
wife prefers to keep the chocolate brown color of the walnut, but I guess I'd have
to see it to make a decision. So, I'll just have to pony-up for some garnet and try
it on a scrap piece.
Thanks for the aesthetic opinion.
Raul da Silva
San Francisco, CA
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Paul T. Radovanic
>I kind of suspected that it would redden the color a bit. I'm pretty sure that my
>wife prefers to keep the chocolate brown color of the walnut, but I guess I'd have
>to see it to make a decision. So, I'll just have to pony-up for some garnet and try
>it on a scrap piece.
The garnet is about 9:1 yellow to red. It definitely will not "mute"
the tone -- it will make it sing! You'll see figure that you didn't
know was there.
I like both orange and garnet on kiln-dried walnut, but if it's
air-dried walnut, I stick with blonde shellac, after the boiled
linseed oil base.
Shellac can definitely be sprayed successfully, too. I've never done
it, but many, many people have.
paul Rad
LTShakman
Please tell me a little bit about how the linseed works on lighter woods like
Birch and Maple. Over the next few weeks I am building a huge built-in
bookcase and I plan on prefinishing a lot of it since I'll need to make it in
sections so that I can get it into the den/library.
Ben Shakman
Springfield, Illinois
Homepage: http://members.aol.com/ltshakman/homepage.htm
Aslam Hassan
LTShakman wrote:
>
> John,
>
> Please tell me a little bit about how the linseed works on lighter woods like
> Birch and Maple. Over the next few weeks I am building a huge built-in
> bookcase and I plan on prefinishing a lot of it since I'll need to make it in
> sections so that I can get it into the den/library.
Ben:
Figured Maple will look absolutely stunning with this finish. If you
want, I can send you the JPG's of my table that I finished last December
(the pic were posted on abpf). The center portion of the top is Maple
bordered on both sides by a strip of Walnut. Super Blonde Dewaxed
Shellac from Russ Ramirez was the top finish. I am in the process of
making a table lamp (Popular Mechanics plan) using figured Maple and
Walnut pieces...so far I have finished the post part of it using Tried
and True (Jeff Jewitt) followed by Super Blonde Dewaxed Shellac. It
looks beautiful! If you're coming down my way, stop by and take a
look. I don't know how the finish would look on Birch...my guess is
that it will look *VERY* good too.
All the best,
Aslam
Rob Weaver
> <snip>
> I have a bit more than a pound of super blonde dewaxed left over
I'll be glad to take it off your hands <G>
> Have either of you had any success spraying shellac?
Raul - I'm not either one of the Johns, so pardon me while I jump in
here with a bit of experience to share:
Shellac sprays beautifully - I used it as a woodsealer when I worked in
a sign shop a lifetime ago. If you're not using HVLP - and it's a great
improvement over traditional siphon spraying, cut the pressure going
into the gun down to 20 lbs or so (it's been 23 years - so my memory
might be a bit faded). Use a 1 lb ( + or -, it's not rocket science)
cut, and put on light coats. Usual precautions re: safety, respirators,
etc, apply. Clean spray equipment with household ammonia - it's cheap,
readily available, and less nasty than a lot of stuff you'duse to clean
petro-finishes with. Do NOT let SWMBO seeyou steal iffrom her kitchen
cabinet - go buy your own (DAMHIKT).
All the best,
Rob Weaver
>
Larry Jaques
cleverly suggested:
>etc, apply. Clean spray equipment with household ammonia - it's cheap,
>readily available, and less nasty than a lot of stuff you'duse to clean
>petro-finishes with. Do NOT let SWMBO seeyou steal iffrom her kitchen
>cabinet - go buy your own (DAMHIKT).
Why not use some of your denatured alcohol to clean the equipment,
then save the cleaning solution as 1/4 lb cut shellac? <g>
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Raul da Silva
Thanks for the first-hand info. I have a very nice Lex-Aire 2002 HVLP
conversion gun that I would use. It sprays better than anything I have ever
come across. Have sprayed lacquer with great results.
One question I have is that all the books I've read say that when spraying
shellac, you should not use aluminum (passageways in the gun and /or cup).
As far as I know, the gun has stainless passageways, but like many spray
guns, it has an aluminum cup. I assume it has something to do with alcohol
and aluminum interaction. Will this be a problem? Do I need a
plastic/stainless cup?
Any insights, Rob?
Thanks,
Raul da Silva
San Francisco, CA
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Rob Weaver wrote:
> Raul da Silva wrote:
> > <snip>
>
> > I have a bit more than a pound of super blonde dewaxed left over
>
> I'll be glad to take it off your hands <G>
>
> > Have either of you had any success spraying shellac?
>
> Raul - I'm not either one of the Johns, so pardon me while I jump in
> here with a bit of experience to share:
>
> Shellac sprays beautifully - I used it as a woodsealer when I worked in
> a sign shop a lifetime ago. If you're not using HVLP - and it's a great
> improvement over traditional siphon spraying, cut the pressure going
> into the gun down to 20 lbs or so (it's been 23 years - so my memory
> might be a bit faded). Use a 1 lb ( + or -, it's not rocket science)
> cut, and put on light coats. Usual precautions re: safety, respirators,
> etc, apply. Clean spray equipment with household ammonia - it's cheap,
> readily available, and less nasty than a lot of stuff you'duse to clean
> petro-finishes with. Do NOT let SWMBO seeyou steal iffrom her kitchen
> cabinet - go buy your own (DAMHIKT).
>