Stain/French Polish Problem

Hi this is my 1st time and I am in the process of restoring the top front section of a leather inlay desk that has suffered wear damage from the owners arms.I removed the french polish on this section cleaned up the body oil stain along the front edge.As the rest of the desk is a dark walnut colour I applied a oil based stain to the required colour then applied my first coat of shellac.All I seemed to do was wipe off most of the stain thereby losing the effect of my colour match.I have repeated the process a number of times with the same result.What am I doing wrong.Why wont the stain stay in place.What do I have to do to achieve the desired result.
Mike

sounds like your using the right product mix, oil base and shellac should be fine.
you probably didnt take all the old finish off and the stain is just sitting on top,
sometimes these had a sanding sealer applied and its a bit hard to tell if your back to raw timber,
Take it all off and give it a really good sand back, starting with a 120 grit and working through to 360- 400,
then apply your stain, let dry at least 24 hrs, and lightly wipe the surface with a cloth just dampened with turps this will take off excess stain.
let dry an hour then apply the polish,

should be good:)

Astrid

Astrid.
Thanks for your reply.The original f/p and stain was completely removed and area was sanded back to bare timber,finishing with 800 grit.I then worked in stain to required colour allowing it to dry for 24 hrs.I then started applying shellac carefully and with each stroke I removed some of the stain until I just gave up as the finish was not acceptable as I could see that the stain was getting lighter each time.
I will give your method a go and will let you know

What sort of timber is it?
some timber you shoulnt sand too fine as it wont take a stain,
astrid

Welcome to the site Mike.:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Hi Mike,

just an early morning thought.
Are you sure the stain was an oil base?
Ive often grabbed the wrong can.
A spirit base will move with the shellac.
you can still use it but the first coats of shellac have to be brushed on fast.

Also, I just noticed you said that you cleaned the old polish of the front section.
Are you repolishing the whole of the desktop surrounding the leather, or just patching it at the front?

Welcome

Astrid:)