Walnut treasure box

[Greg Labacz]

Hi,
I'm a newly retired and new woodworker . I took some woodworking classes and i just finished a class where I built a walnut treasure box. My instructor recommended I use light coats of shellac cleaning with steel wool in between coats. What are your opinions on finishing this project .

Thanks,
Greg

[Ken Shoemaker]

I'm building three treasure boxes for my grand daughters.

I'm doing the walnut on in BLO, them amber shellac, then waterlox. Shellac on walnut is good stuff. But, I'd do the BLO first.... But that's just me.

No doubt more experience will, and will be, of more value.

BTW - WELCOME to the SMC

Ken

[Chris Padilla]

If one plans to use oil, it goes on first.

Shellac is good for sealing the wood, adding color, or separating two finishes that don't like each other. Shellac is also great as a final coat.

Steel wool and a mineral spirits as lubrication works great to level it and smooth it out. The grade of steel wool you use as well as whether or not you use a MS lube, will determine the sheen of the shellac. Experiment.

[Scott Holmes]

I too like BLO (boiled linseed oil in case you are wondering) then garnet shellac.

Steelwool is not a good idea between coats of finish...

Why do I say never use steel wool between coats?…

- you will leave shards of steelwool behind; then you will top coat it. Now you have steelwool IN your finish; when water vapor gets to it, and it will, it will RUST - IN YOUR FINISH.

- Many steel wool products have oil to keep them from rusting, so now you have oil on your surface... bad idea.