Brian Erickson
01-22-2008, 4:30 PM
I am building a Stickley-style dining room table for some friends in cherry. I built a similar one for myself a few years ago in qs white oak.
Because all the wood I had was 4/4, the outer "stiles" of the top and the breadboard ends are laminated pieces to get to the 1.5" desired thickness.
I have an unnatural desire to try new things when I am working on these big projects,:rolleyes:, so I thought this might be a good time to try the Jeff Jewitt blo/shellac/top coat approach to cherry. I have never previously used shellac... (the ominous music swells somewhere in the background).
So, of course, I brushed on the shellac and left brush marks. Too thick of a cut. I scrubbed it off with alcohol, or at least most of it, which left some lighter "spots" where the shellac came off completely. I assumed these would darken with another coat of shellac, but now that I've thinned the garnet shellac, it's not coloring it much at all.
So here are my questions:
1) How do I address the shellac color issue? Should I worry about having too many coats of shellac between the blo and the (probably poly) top coat?
2) Should I be concerned about thinned shellac working its way down into the breadboard ends and effectively "gluing them" to the rest of the top? Is there a remedy for this (other than waxing the stub tenon before glue-up, which I conveniently forgot to do)?
Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance for any help. I do love the shellac, now that I know how to do it, but I'm not sure how to make up for past mistakes...
Brian
Because all the wood I had was 4/4, the outer "stiles" of the top and the breadboard ends are laminated pieces to get to the 1.5" desired thickness.
I have an unnatural desire to try new things when I am working on these big projects,:rolleyes:, so I thought this might be a good time to try the Jeff Jewitt blo/shellac/top coat approach to cherry. I have never previously used shellac... (the ominous music swells somewhere in the background).
So, of course, I brushed on the shellac and left brush marks. Too thick of a cut. I scrubbed it off with alcohol, or at least most of it, which left some lighter "spots" where the shellac came off completely. I assumed these would darken with another coat of shellac, but now that I've thinned the garnet shellac, it's not coloring it much at all.
So here are my questions:
1) How do I address the shellac color issue? Should I worry about having too many coats of shellac between the blo and the (probably poly) top coat?
2) Should I be concerned about thinned shellac working its way down into the breadboard ends and effectively "gluing them" to the rest of the top? Is there a remedy for this (other than waxing the stub tenon before glue-up, which I conveniently forgot to do)?
Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance for any help. I do love the shellac, now that I know how to do it, but I'm not sure how to make up for past mistakes...
Brian