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Jim Benante
06-23-2005, 4:50 PM
I am almost ready to start finishing a maple and canary wood project (Crib). After much reading and a few tests I have settled on using BLO then Shellac then WB lacquer.

I am going to spray the shellac and lacquer on with a HVLP conversion gun.

I want to buy shellac flakes and mix myself. What pound cut is best? 2?

How many pounds of shellac flakes at a 2 lb cut will be needed to put a layer of shellac on before the lacquer? I am getting ready to buy some and wasn't sure how much to buy.

The photo shows a test pieces of maple and canary wood that have been treated with a very light coat of BLO. I like the look so am going to go with a dewaxed blonde shellac and then a WB Lacquer from Target coatings.

Anyone purchace shellac from http://www.woodfinishingsupplies.com/shellac_g.htm

Prices look like the best I can find.


The canary wood will serve as an accent piece. The crib is mostly maple with a few accents of canary.

Cecil Arnold
06-23-2005, 5:07 PM
A 2lb cut is two pounds of shellac to one gallon of alcohol or some derative thereof. You shouldn't need more than a quart of 2lb cut to coat your project.

Jim Becker
06-23-2005, 5:14 PM
In addition to Cecil's comments, keep in mind that shellac flakes don't "go bad". Consequently, don't mix more than you need to use within a few months...ready to apply shellac, commercial or shop-mixed, has a shelf life.

There should be no problem spraying a 2-lb cut with your HVLP system. Be sure to clean up thoroughly and right away.

Dennis Peacock
06-23-2005, 6:42 PM
Don't mix up more than a pint for this project. You'd be really surprised how far a pint of shellac will go. Just scale it down to maintain a 2lb cut of shellac in the size of a pint. Should be about 1/4 pound for a pint of denatured alcohol. If it's hot where you are, you may need to mix in some retarder to the shellac to keep it from being almost dry before it hits the wood surface. Homestead Finishing sells a Denatured Alcohol called Bekhol (spelling?) that dries much slower than standard Denatured Alcohol and works very well for spraying applications. You can spray with standard DA, but you need to watch your mix at the gun so you spray a wet coat on the wood but not so much that you develop a run.

Hope this helps some.

Steven Wilson
06-23-2005, 7:11 PM
You won't need much shellac. The easy formula to remember is

One oz of shellac flakes per cup of alcohol for a one pound cut of shellac.

You want a two pound cut? Just mix up 2 oz shellac flakes per cup of alcohol. In your case 4 oz of shellac and 2 cups of alcohol should do just fine. I grind my flakes in a Braun coffee grinder, put them in a wide mouth mason jar, add the alcohol and mix. In a day or so the flakes will have dissolved. Don't forget to strain the solution before spraying.

Jim Benante
06-23-2005, 7:16 PM
Don't forget to strain the solution before spraying.

What is a good straining material for shellac before spraying? Do you need to strain if you use dewaxed?

Any comments about the maple canary wood combo? I was suprised a little at how darkthe canary wood got after the BLO.

Its a little darker than I anticipated, but it is really nice looking. Just hope it turns out well with the maple.

Steven Wilson
07-02-2005, 6:16 PM
What is a good straining material for shellac before spraying? Do you need to strain if you use dewaxed?
You spray, you strain. Use the same strainers that you use for everything you spray.

Doug Shepard
07-02-2005, 7:55 PM
I've mixed up from flakes in the past and will continue to do so, but just FYI - for dewaxed blond you can save yourself the hassle of having to mix your own. Behlens SealCoat is 2-Lb dewaxed blond right out of the can.

Jim Benante
07-02-2005, 8:16 PM
For some reason its fun to mix it up. Here is my first batch. I only spilled 16 oz of DNA on the floor. Nothing like filling that jar to just the right level then kicking it over with your foot. Good thing it was before I added the flakes and it was on a linolem floor.

TO my suprise all the flakes dissolved within 4-5 hours. Now if only that BLO I put on some bifold doors was ready I could take my first shot at spraying it. I put it on yesterday and it still has quite an odor to it.

Is the smell test the best measure for when BLO coated wood is ready for some shellac?

The baby's room is almost finished. Wife is 2 cm dialated, but no contractions yet.

Crib needs some sanding then finish. After many small issues with the hardware I think I have it all figured out. I used different hardware than the plan calls for and it caused me to do some tinkering that I hadn't anticipated.

Steven Wilson
07-03-2005, 11:46 AM
You don't need to apply much BLO if you're going to finish with shellac, the BLO is only to pop the grain, applying a lot of BLO just delays things. Anyhow, overnight should do, if you wait until the BLO smell is gone you might be waiting a few weeks (months). If you find BLO darkens things too much you might try pure tung oil.

Jim Benante
07-04-2005, 1:12 AM
You don't need to apply much BLO ....


I didn't use much on the doors yesterday and today put it on the crib parts. Looks like I will be spraying in a day or two. The crib looks better than I ever imagined. The canary wood and maple both look great after the BLO. I was worried about how things would work out, but the maple really does take well to BLO.

For anyone thinking of trying BLO here are before and after shots. The first is before BLO the second after BLO.