Need advice for tinting shellac

[Cary Swoveland]

I've heard some fellow shellac enthusiasts use super-blond exclusively, and add TransTint dyes to achieve the colour they're after. I'd like opinions on this practice, and if you endorse it, I'd appreciate suggestions for a basic kit of TransTint colours to have on hand for use with, say, cherry, maple and walnut.

Cary

[Steve Schoene]

I usually prefer to separate the dye step from sealing and topcoating. When you tint the shellac you make it much more susceptible to having visible overlaps or streaks or missed spots or light areas. If you keep the tint very, very light, but just use it to change the hue a fraction, so that it takes a lot of coats to notice much effect then it can work well. This assumes you are applying the shellac by brush or pad. If you are spraying then it is a lot easier to get even tones. But you still probably want to "sneak" up on the right color with multiple coats.

To many variables to specify particular colors, basically you want something to tilt towards brown (the dye version of burnt umber), something more red (the equivalent of burnt sienna), and something with some yellow or gold (like yellow ochre). But, if you are using toner to adjust colors you may also want some some of the complement colors on the color wheel to "tone" down a shade (a greenish hue to bring down a color that is too red, for example) or other colors to shift results a tad around the color wheel.

[Cary Swoveland]

Thanks, Steve. That's very helpful. I'm glad you mentioned the dependency on the method of application. (I spray larger pieces, pad smaller ones, but have limited experience with shellac generally.) I also appreciate your advice on particular tints I should consider. It gives me a good place to start. I can see that I'm going to have to do a lot of experimentation.

Cary

[Steven Wilson]

Hmmm, when I add transtint it's usually the medium brown, red brown, or dark brown. I find that I'm generally adding some to a Kusmi or Orange shellac. When I use it, it's generally to even out the tone of a couple of boards - a pretty subtle change.