Rush chair seat finish??

[Tom M King]

My multi-talented Wife just redid the rush seats on some chairs. The old school methods call for Shellac on them, but I can't imagine a less long lived coating.

She's going to try several things, on a sample rack, but it's just guesswork for us.

Any good ideas? Flexibility would be good462398.

[Jim Becker]

Personally....I'd use the shellac. A waterborne clear would be my next choice, but preferably one of the few that ias a "warmer" look so that the rush doesn't look washed out.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I had a deaf friend ask me about this. I recommended shellac. Yesterday he emailed me to say he bought flakes, made his own shellac and he is quite happy with the results.

[Tom M King]

Is Shellac flexible at all? The ones I've seen with Shellac on them don't seem to last as long as the ones with no finish. The Shellac just breaks, after a while. The "Rush" just seems like rolled paper, to me. I haven't looked into it at all. She's going to do some tests of different things. Some people use Polyurethane, but we all know how much variation there is in the different ones.

Our main concern is longevity, while not looking shiny.

[Jim Becker]

Shellac does dry pretty hard, so you don't want it on thick. Do a pretty thin cut so it soaks into the rush without leaving a film. It's also easily repairable and burns in/melts into previous applications during the repair process. The fact that it's quickly and easily renewable could be a benefit for this particular application.

[Tom M King]

Good point. Thanks. I guess the ones we've seen that were so bad had never had any maintenance done.

[Jim Becker]

There are some...err, a lot of...folks who don't consider that furniture sometimes requires maintenance. Especially things that get regular use.

[Phil Mueller]

I’ve also heard either shellac or boiled linseed oil.

[Tom M King]

She ended up using Shellac, thinned 3:1. It soaked it up nicely, and didn't darken it a whole lot. She probably tried everything I had already open cans of, and several different thinning ratios with the Shellac. Just Sealcoat. They do look nice.