Shellac on bowls ??????

[Jim Colombo]

Does anyone use Shellac as a base coat/filler on their bowls? If so, how do you apply it?

[Richard Jones]

Jim,

I use it at times, altho' less frequently. I've found that it seems to "set" colors more naturally, not as dark as Danish oil, etc. I use a pretty thin wash coat, maybe a 1-1 1/2# cut, apply it with a rag. Then, knock it back with some 600, 0000 steel wool, burgundy Scotch-brite, or equal. It will melt with heat/friction, so I tend to keep the speed down low enough to prevent this.

For me, it really depends on the wood. It's certainly not as forgiving, at least for me, as DO or BLO.

Rich

[Prashun Patel]

Oh YES! I use shellac as a base coat/filler on bowls and flatwork. On some types of wood it's unnecessary. I would put cherry and maple in that category. But on porous woods - especially walnut, it's a fantastic filler.

However, I only do that when doing a building finish. If yr doing an ov blend or oil finish, it's counterproductive to seal with shellac sometimes.

Also, if yr doing lacquer, then the shellac is unnecessary; use the lacquer as the sealer.

While it is ultimately really only a shortcut as a sealer (you could use yr varnish, etc) without a sealer, I find that it is easy to knock back to flat, which means it's possible to get very thin, but evenly sheened varnish finishes by using it.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

I use it on all bowls I plan to finish with a surface top coat. Sometimes I even start with a coat of BLO then shellac then begin top coating with lacquer. I also use it on punky woods while I am turning them. It helps solidify the grain though not as well as a few other stabilizers. I apply it with a pad and only apply very light coats. You can do 10 coats in an afternoon of you choose. It dries in minutes. I sand after the first couple coats. I never build the finish with it unless I choose to use it as a top coat which is rare. By the way, I thin mu shellac to a 1 lb, cut.
faust

[Michelle Rich]

Didn't you ask this earlier this week? Many of us answered.