A great rotten finish
You can slap this on in a night. It’s tough, scratch-resistant, alcohol and water resistant, and it goes on great over trouble woods like cocobolo. It’s clear and adds depth to any wood. And you can get almost everything you need from the Jolly Orange Giant for under $20. Here’s how it works.
1) Paint on a coat of dewaxed shellac. Fresh-mixed from flakes is best, but Zinsser’s will do fine. This seals the wood, makes for nice adhesion, and (if you use a yellow or even better a garnet shellac) adds a nice color tone to the wood.
2) Spray on a coat of Deft spray lacquer. If your surface is on top, you can spray a heavier coat, since it won’t drip. If it’s vertical, stick with very light coats.
3) Wait 45 min or so and repeat the lacquer applications until you get a nice thick coat. I used a “gloss” lacquer with about 4 medium-heavy coats.
4) When it’s dried completely, wet a rag, dump some powdered rottenstone on the surface and rub like crazy. Add more water or rottenstone as needed.
That’s it. You will wind up with a gorgous, lustrous, clear, hard, beautiful, superlative coating. I did this to the top of my portable humidor (plans coming soon), and it looks amazing. To save a little time, by the way, you can rub with powdered pumice (which is coarser) before you go to the rottenstone.
Try some rotten polishing. You’ll thank me for it.
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