Quartersawn Oak Finish

[Steve Mellott]

I'd like to restore an antique sewing machine cabinet (the kind on the wrought iron treadle base). The surface of the cabinet is a quartersawn oak veneer which seems to be intact. Given the age of the cabinet, I'm assuming the finish is shellac. I'd like to start by cleaning the cabinet to see if that gets me to a nice surface. Can anyone recommend a good cleaner for this purpose? If that doesn't work, should I try a chemical finish remover or go straight to sandpaper? Thanks.

Steve

[Steve Schoene]

If this is shellac you can tell it very easily by testing an inconspicuous place with denatured alcohol.

You would begin cleaning with a mild soap (Murphy's Oil Soap is commonly recommended) to remove water soluble dirt. Not too wet and don't leave it wet.

Then go over it with mineral spirit to remove oily dirt and wax.

At that point you should be able to tell about the finish. You can effect substantial change with just alcohol, which if you get really carried away would be the thing to remove the shellac finish. But with some light rubbing with DNA you can essentially reamalgamate deteriorating shellac and remove the imbedded surface dirt. If doing that seem to have removed to much shellac then you can add a coat or two after you have cleaned the surface.

[Steve Mellott]

Thanks very much for the advice. I've cleaned the cabinet and it definitely has a shellac finish. I will try the light rubbing with alcohol to see if I can restore the finish, but I am guessing that I may have to put another coat of shellac on the cabinet.

1. What is the shelf life of shellac flakes? I bought some about 8 years ago for a project and only used half of them. I've been storing the other half in the original plastic container.

2. Can I mix blonde and garner shellac flakes in the same mixture?

3. What is the shefl life of the shellac once it is mixed with alcohol?

Thanks again.

Steve

[Sam Yerardi]

Steve,

Flakes will have a much longer life than pre-mixed shellac but one test you can do to see if the shellac flakes are still usable is to brush some shellac onto a sheet of glass and let it dry. If it goes on smoothly and is somewhat difficult to remove mechanically (doesn't peel or fail to adhere) it might be ok to use, but I would still be reluctant to use it. Given the time period that you've indicated I would be a bit hesitant to commit it to a large project.

Yes, you can mix the various grades of shellac.

Once you have mixed the shellac, the shelf life decreases dramatically versus flakes in a jar on the shelf. Typically, it is recommended to use premixed or mixed as in this case within usually about 6 months or less, but again it depends on where you're storing it, the temperature, etc. I've used shellac out of the can in excess of a year and it seemed to work fine but again, I only used it on a small project in a place that a failure wouldn't have been a major redo.