Looking for a way to smooth out almost-perfect shellac finish

[Sam Shane]

Hello all, and thank you in advance for my first post!

I have what should be a simple question, but thus far, no simple answers.

Anyway. I have made a small maple project, finished first with 3 coats of Danish Oil, and followed by 2 coats of Zinnser Bulls-Eye Shellac (not de-waxed, just the regular no-frills Home-Depot stuff).
The finish is almost perfect...really even and shiny. No dust nibs.

At this point all I want to do is even-out the final shellac coat, which is only very slightly textured but really almost perfect...but I can't find any great recommendations.

All the advice I am seeing seems to be aimed at larger projects with many more coats of shellac and lots of dust imperfections; namely, all sorts of mechanized "rubbing out" with #0000 SW and fancy waxes, mechanical buffing, mineral oil rubs with w/d paper from 600 grit up to 2000, and many other rather elaborate techniques that seem more aimed at harshly abrading the top coat on a larger furniture project and then slowly working it back to a polish, with the ample help of wax.

But all I want to do is take an almost perfect, dust-nib-free top coat of shellac on a rather small project, and make it perfect, without overly harsh abrasion and waxing (I prefer the shellac feel to the wax feel). It seems this should be simple, but thus far I have not found a good solution.

Thanks all in advance!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Sam,

By any chance are you a wood turner? I turn small projects periodically. I sometimes use shellac based finishes and sometimes brushing lacquer both of which can be buffed out to a beautiful finish.

[Wayne Lomman]

Either hand rub it as in standard French polishing rubbing or give it a light sand and spray the final coat. Both of these techniques work dependent on your skills. Thin the shellac if spraying. Cheers

[glenn bradley]

I frequently sand between coats of shellac to achieve a glossy finish. Final rubbing out is 1500 grit on a cork block lubed with a spritz of mineral oil. A very talented restorer shared with me at a WWing get together that he will use comet and a felt block but, I have yet to try this. The inner frames here are shellac'd and sanded to 1500 with a cork block prior to assembly.

[Sam Shane]

Sam,

By any chance are you a wood turner? I turn small projects periodically. I sometimes use shellac based finishes and sometimes brushing lacquer both of which can be buffed out to a beautiful finish.

Not a turner (yet...don't have a lathe, unfortunately!), though curious what your exact buffing technique is.

[Sam Shane]

I frequently sand between coats of shellac to achieve a glossy finish. Final rubbing out is 1500 grit on a cork block lubed with a spritz of mineral oil. A very talented restorer shared with me at a WWing get together that he will use comet and a felt block but, I have yet to try this. The inner frames here are shellac'd and sanded to 1500 with a cork block prior to assembly.

I was thinking that might be how based on some further reading, but thanks for confirming it for sure. I have 2000 grit on hand, i'll give it a try. Is the mineral oil easily removed afterwards?

[glenn bradley]

I was thinking that might be how based on some further reading, but thanks for confirming it for sure. I have 2000 grit on hand, i'll give it a try. Is the mineral oil easily removed afterwards?

I use a spray bottle and just spray it on the abrasive, not on the piece. I do as much of an area as I can before the MS stops lubricating and then wipe that area clean with a folded paper towel, changing towels frequently. Once complete, I often apply a paste wax to shellac'd surfaces so yet another product with a petroleum based carrier comes into play. This has never caused me any trouble.

You may find 2000 to be too fine as your first abrasive. The problem here is that we do a lot of touching of the surface with a minimal shift towards what we are trying to achieve. I should have said that, depending on the quality of the surface I am starting with, I use 0000 Liberon steel wool, 800, 1000, 1200, and 1500 grit abrasives.

Rasping, sanding or polishing, we are simply replacing specific scratches with finer scratches. Jumping straight to 2000 has the same problems as skipping grits. Shellac dries incredibly fast. I would prep a piece of scrap the way your item surface was prepared, apply the shellac and experiment with your abrasives. I am always happier when I do something for the first time on a test piece .

[Sam Shane]

Thanks...just to confirm, that was Mineral Oil, Not Mineral Spirits, right?
My project is already long dried and cured (10 days), so this would be on the final coat, for what it's worth.
Want to avoid paste wax, because I don't want a wax finish on it at all, just a smoother glossy shellac...
Yup, have a test piece, gonna give it a shot.
Thanks!
Beautiful frames, by the way!

[glenn bradley]

Thanks...just to confirm, that was Mineral Oil, Not Mineral Spirits, right?

I am using Mineral Spirits. I would think the mineral oil would take something like Dawn dish soap or something to remove fully. Some folks use a drop of dish soap in water as a lubricant but, I found MS did not cause issues with the finish or adjacent surfaces whereas water sometimes would. To each their own. Here's an article on it and I'm sure there are plenty of opinions ;-) Please post your decision and result. We are all asking questions here as well as answering. Appreciate the compliment on the frames ;-)

[Tom M King]

3M makes Scotchbrite pads for working clearcoat for automotive painting. They come in 4 different grades.

[Bill McNiel]

MicroMesh pads are great for "rubbing out" finishes to whatever sheen you desire.