BLO & Shellac

[Randy Collord]

My plan was to put a thin coat of BLO on a cherry coffee table and follow that with several coats of shellac. I tried the BLO on a test piece and got some significant splotching. I then took another test piece and applied a 1lb. cut of shellac as a sealer and I didn't get the splotching that came with the BLO. If I apply a sealer coat of shellac can I apply the BLO on top of it and follow that with several coats of a 2lb. cut of shellac? Also, is there any point in applying the BLO once I apply the sealer coat?

Thanks,
Randy

[Jerry Thompson]

Shellac only has worked for me on cherry it should pop the cherry.

[Howard Acheson]

Yes, but why? Once you apply the shellac you will have sealed the surface preventing any absorption of the BLO. If you use an amber shellac, you will get a grain enhancing effect similar to that which you will get from BLO.

[Jerry Olexa]

Agree with Howard..Shellac will seal the surface...No point to applying more BLO....

[David Hawxhurst]

its possible the second test piece didn't have any figure (blotches) to show. to ensure that sealing with shellac works i would sand down the piece with blo to remove it then apply shellac to ensure you're not having blotches.

[Scott Holmes]

As already stated amber or garnet shellac will enhance the grain. No BLO after sealing the wood.

"Several" coats of shellac concerns me.
Shellac is to be applied as a very thin coat. Building up a thick shellac coat will lead to trouble down the road.

The best shellac finish is the thinnest possible coat that is flawless. Shellac should not be built up as you can with lacquera nd varnish.

[Randy Collord]

You all have confirmed my suspicion that there's no point in BLO after the shellac.

Scott, I'm going to be padding the shellac and I have a couple of finishing books by Jeff Jewitt that both talk about applying several coats. I figured I would do 3 or 4. What type of problems would you anticipate?

An additional question for the group is since I'm going to go with just shellac and no BLO, is there any reason to use a 1 lb. cut for the first coat rather than a 2 lb. cut?

[Scott Holmes]

If you're padding the shellac, no worries. 2# cut is better for padding.