Shellac finish, the Dan way
I’ve been experimenting with methods of shellac application as I work on the legs for our dining room table. They’re good to play with since they’re large expanses of walnut, but if I mess ’em up, who cares–they’re just going to get kicked anyway. These instructions are what I came up with. They assume you’re using a wood that needs its pores filled, like red oak, walnut, etc. Everything assumes a 2# cut of dewaxed shellac (garnet in my case). Actually, it assumes that I just mixed it however the heck I felt like, since I treat shellac prep like a cooking project–that is to say cavalierly.
0) Sand the surface to 180 grit or so.
1) Take microfiber cloths and cut them into quarters. The edges will be frayed; just pull off any loose fluff.
2) For the rest of these instructions, use a quarter of the cloth, folded into quarters.
3) Dip the cloth in the shellac. Apply to the whole surface. Be pretty liberal in your application, and don’t sweat it too much if it’s heavier in one place. Avoid drips though, especially drips that dribble over the edge of your piece–they’re a pain to clean up; you’ll have to soak them in alcohol.
4) Allow to dry completely–15 min past when it looks wet, minimum. Ideally an hour.
5) Dump a huge pile of powdered pumice on the surface, about a teaspoon worth (I suspect rottenstone would work better, but I use pumice since that’s what I have laying around).
6) Get the rag pretty wet with shellac. Work the pumice around until it’s a gray paste. Spread this vigorously, packing it into the pores.
7) Repeat. Each tablespoon of pumice will cover about a square foot. Don’t sweat the nasty pumice-swirls you’re leaving behind. The goal here is to pack pumice into every pore of the wood so the finish is smooth.
8) Let dry until it no longer appears wet.
9) With a rag soaked in denatured alcohol only (no shellac), clean up the worst of the pumice-swirls, rubbing very gently. This will re-dissolve some of the surface shellac and spread it around; that’s OK. You may have to switch cloths periodically as it gets loaded with excess pumice.
10) Let dry completely.
11) Slather the surface liberally with mineral oil. Your hand should skate across the surface.
12) Using your Sander of Deepest Delights, lightly sand to 220. When you’re done, you will appear to have taken off a good chunk of the shellac. The important thing is that the pores are packed with pumice mixed with shellac, and your surface can get glassy smooth.
13) Sand again to 320 or so, still with mineral oil. This get rid of the rest of the shellac on the surface. Occasionally wipe off the mineral oil from a spot to check how it’s coming, and add more mineral oil as it drips off, gets flinged across the room, gets wiped away by the sleeve of your shirt, etc.
14) Wipe off the mineral oil with paper towels.
15) Repeatedly wipe layers of shellac on to the surface, allowing to dry after each coat (will take about 15 min, but it’s safe to do the next coat when the last one isn’t shiny).
Optional:
16) Near the end, do another light sanding with mineral oil. Use 600, 800, then 1000, then 2000 grit (you can get it from the auto parts store).
18) One or two more layers of shellac if needed to get a perfect, glossy finish!
Try it–you’ll thank me for it.
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