Shellac on Douglas Fir

[Joe Yaemish]

I have some doors in my 1936 home that I believe are douglas fir. This weekend I removed the original varnish and stained them. Unfortunately, I had to use a gel stain and couldn't sand more than 150. I choose to use General Finish's Java, a very dark stain.

So I have been padding on shellac and I believe that my technique is correct. I have had success using the same technique on the surrounding chestnut trim. For some reason, the shellac really shows a lot of action in the doors. The finish just isn't there.

So far I have waited for them to dry, then 400 grit sand paper and 800 grit. I removed the dust and padded a 1.5-2 lb cut back over to try and level it a bit. The problem was reduced a small bit.

Any suggestions? I'm guessing that I will eventually have to take the shellac down to a less glossy top coat. Can this be done without using wax?

This is the chestnut, I guess I am happy with it.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--rJEwGAehKI/ThNBdC6o5qI/AAAAAAAAAw0/cVNQshGO4GM/s720/IMG_0462.JPG

And this is the door; I am not happy with this.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xVnR7V5KLqo/ThNBqd9qdKI/AAAAAAAAAxA/Yc3Pi7rPqs4/s720/IMG_0473.JPG

[Harvey Pascoe]

That fir is like a sponge and just keeps on sucking up the shellac, seemingly no matter how much you put on. In my opinion, shellac it not a good choice for fir or redwood. Looks like you also had trouble leveling while sanding and it scoured out the soft parts. Did you block sand?

[Joe Yaemish]

I'm not sure where the scouring is. I'm a novice. I used a block when I sanded the shellac. When I sipped the old finish I used the orbital. It is kind of late not to be switching from the shellac isn't it?

[Howard Acheson]

Why are you using shellac?

When you say "padding" exactly what technique are you referring to?

[glenn bradley]

Shellac is my favorite finish and I have no problem on absorbent woods when I use a seal coat of 1lb shellac prior to applying my film finish. Shellac is not a building finish per se. I have gotten away with film-filling very tiny irregularities (like 1 or 2 of them near a joint) but, nothing on the scale you are trying to fill. Shellac will add a nice top coat to whatever you are already looking at. Trying to smooth the surface with it will lead to frustration and too much build.

It looks like there is too much finish on the surface right now but, that could be the flash/photo. If you do have too much shellac on, it can be removed with rags soaked in denatured alcohol. Change rags (of paper towels at first) frequently to avoid re-applying the finish you are trying to remove. Once you have a cleaned up surface, correct your dye for any problems that result from removing the shellac. Then apply 1 or 2 coats and that's it.

[Joe Yaemish]

I wanted to use shellac on the chestnut and I really like how that came out in all the other rooms of my house. Poly looks a little too much like plastic for my taste. Since I did shellac on the chestnut already, I thought I should do the same thing for the doors. I made a shellac pad (t-shirt material around a reservoir) and used the padding technique to apply all coats.

[Joe Yaemish]

Shellac is my favorite finish and I have no problem on absorbent woods when I use a seal coat of 1lb shellac prior to applying my film finish. Shellac is not a building finish per se. I have gotten away with film-filling very tiny irregularities (like 1 or 2 of them near a joint) but, nothing on the scale you are trying to fill. Shellac will add a nice top coat to whatever you are already looking at. Trying to smooth the surface with it will lead to frustration and too much build.

It looks like there is too much finish on the surface right now but, that could be the flash/photo. If you do have too much shellac on, it can be removed with rags soaked in denatured alcohol. Change rags (of paper towels at first) frequently to avoid re-applying the finish you are trying to remove. Once you have a cleaned up surface, correct your dye for any problems that result from removing the shellac. Then apply 1 or 2 coats and that's it.

I don't think there is too much, with my initial coats it kind of looked like that. I think it may be the flash. I actually used straight denatured alcohol last night because I thought the same thing. It didn't really make a difference. Maybe the problem is that I couldn't sand the wood past 150 before I stained it.