Coloured Shellac

[rapsod]

How to make black shellac?

[Barry_White]

How to make black shellac?

Rapsod

Did you see my post.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showpo...26&postcount=7

[la Huerta]

hey all...just going to pick up this thread a bit...

i'm just about to finish a coffee table that is quite large, 1300mm square, now i want to stain with tinted shellac to get a really clear finish, it's old oregon I'm using so it has that tricky grain like pine, so i'll be doing a few clear coats first to seal it before starting with the color...

...so my question is, how should i apply the tinted shellac ?, being such a large surface area, i mean if i brush it on half of it will dry before i get to the other side, i'm worried about brush and lap marks, it being colored, i expect to be applying about 10ish coats of the tinted shellac to build the color gradually, but what would be the best way for me to apply it ???

ps, i don't have spray gear or room for spraying anyway, so it's got to be by hand ...

thanks in advance...

[Sofaman]

Hello la Huerta

It only took me 3 years of part time TAFE to learn how to French Polish so your table should be finished by 2010!!

No, seriously, shellac is great to work with and quite forgiving in that you can easily get back to a fresh start if you stuff things up, but it has properties that make it difficult to get used to - quick drying being one obvious example.

I would suggest making and using a "rubber" to apply any shellac on a large flat surface. There's a reason the old method is still used today. As for how to use it......

A few tips:

Get a book on French Polishing. It will give you basic ideas and explain the whys and wherefores.

Play. Practice on something similar to your oregan table top to see the effects and to enable you to make mistakes. You can sand back and/or wash off and start again on your practice piece over and over. Heartbreaking to have to do it on the real thing. And you'll find a technique that works for you quite quickly by having a small piece to practice on.

Grain fill. (You can do this after your initial sealer coats) One reason shellac looks great is the warmth and clarity it gives, but this is achieved with quite thin layers. If you have a "hungry" looking surface it will always look ordinary. It might be shiny but it won't look right.

Keep things warm and dry. Its not ideal polishing weather at the moment.

There's plenty more to getting a good finish but this should get you a pretty good result. Any thoughts from the others out there?

[ubeaut]

G'day la Huerta - I'm presuming you want to see the timber beneeth the finish and not blanket it out with colour, in which case I personally wouldn't be applying the stain in the shellac but rather changing the colour of the timber with a water dye.

Putting the colour in the shellac and applying it won't give a really clear finish. You might just as well use paint. Without having a really good knowledge of french polishing it will be really hard to get an even colour consistency on such a big area.

Cut some of your shellac with around 10 parts meth and apply 1 thin coat to the surface of the timber. When dry sand it very lightly (1 light wipe over the surface will usually suffice) with your finest grit abrasive (1200 is best) to remove any nibs raised by previous sanding. Then apply the water dye which should go on evenly over the timber without blotching, streaking or any other problems. Allow it to dry thoroughly before even thinking about applying any more polish.

As Sofaman rightly said: Practice, practice, practice on a similar piece of timber. And beware of the dreaded cold, damp and humid weather.

[la Huerta]

hey Neil, how are ya mate !!!

yes i actually do want to mask the grain, or actually not show the grain but still have a transparent finish (does that make scene ?)...ok, with oregon (and pine), when it's stained the light and dark (zebra stripes) will naturally be seen because these stripes absorb different amounts of stain, the result on a large table is a heck of a lot of strips, know what i mean, even with a wash coat of shellac it still happens (although just not a much), so my solution was to to tint the finish and apply light coats till i reach the color i want, but i'd first seal the timber with a few coats of the clear finish so the tinted finish would lay on top and would not get into the grain at all, i did this with poly, and the color and quality turned out very good...but, being poly, it was way to thick and plastic and i really don't like poly anyway, but the idea was good, i think pro's use this technique when spraying (build up the color one coat at a time)...

so what i was thinking of was tinting the shellac and doing it the same way as i did with the poly, but i know the shellac will dry to fast for me to even it out (unlike the poly)...

and i want to finish off with beeswax so i end up with a lovely patina...

...i'v been at this for quite a while (about 2 yrs) and still haven't got a finish that i love)

think i need some serious help, hey ...(may be a shrink !)

attached is a pic of a little table that i went and looked at in a shop, the finish is kind of brown/choc, but very clear and transparent, not muddy and the tint is in the finish (not in the timber), when i looked at the finish of this piece in direct sunlight it changed color from a choc to a lovely warm brown, i'm not concerned about getting the color match i know that the proof-tint type stains will give this transparent color when added into a finish (i'll experiment to get the exact color i want later) but i guess the big question is , what finishing to put it in??? (oh and i don't have spray gear nor the space or air circulation for spraying, so that's out)

sorry to kidnap the thread but any help i can get is appreciated, this is what happens when your a self educated, you just got to ask lots of questions and kind of figure it out as you go...

been reading your book Neil, that's where i thought of tinting the shellac, as you mentioned it in there...