GG's

* Ken Greenberg  [2004-Dec-08 06:45 AKST]:
> On 8 Dec 2004 at 8:27, Hans A. Muller wrote:
> > Good and clear description Ken, of what to do to get that nice 
> > finish. One question: you talk about 'wet and dry' sandpaper. I 
> > suppose you use it dry?
> 
> No, actually I always use it wet. I use mineral oil as a lubricant, 
> but I seem to recall that Jeff Jewitt recommends just using water.

I use water with a bit of dish washing detergent added.  It works really 
well as a lubricant, to the point that I can sand within 12 hours of my 
last shellac application if I'm careful.

On a related note, I've used the overall technique that Ken discusses 
(build up a nice thick finish, let it dry for several days, sand down to 
a fine grit, polish, wax), but I've also used a quicker version when I 
didn't want a perfectly flat, glossy finish like you'll get with the 
first technique.

For example, I made a "monastery table" (that's what Nahm called it when 
he made it) using some spruce planks that came rough cut with my house 
siding.  It was a working table, so I wasn't particularly careful about 
tear out (brutal in white spruce near knots, FYI) or getting things flat.  
A glassy smooth finish didn't make sense here.

In these circumstances, I brush on a few coats of a 2# (give or take) 
cut of shellac, let it dry for 12 - 24 hours, then lightly wet sand with 
water and a bit of dish washing detergent using 320 grit wet dry 
sandpaper on a rubber block.  Wipe off the dust and liquid, let dry for 
an hour or so, wipe again, and then apply another couple coats of 
shellac.  I continue this general process (building the finish by 
brushing on shellac, lightly wet sanding before each shellac session) 
until I've got a nice even, thick coating.  In the last session, I 
typically sand as usual, and then carefully apply one final, thinned 
coat (1#, perhaps) just to cover the sanding marks.  Let it dry for 24 
hours, wax and I'm done.

Keep in mind that the water and detergent is only here to keep the 
shellac dust from collecting on the sandpaper.  If you see areas on the 
sandpaper with clots of shellac, you're either not using enough liquid, 
or the finish hasn't dried enough and you need to wait longer.

Many shellac experts will say that you really only need to sand at the 
very end because shellac dissolves itself, so what you're really trying 
to do is build a nice thick, potentially imperfect, layer, and then 
flatten and polish it at the very end.  They're right, but I find that 
my brushing technique has consistent flaws that are repeated in each 
layer, so periodically sanding throughout the process removes these 
imperfections as I go, resulting in a lot less overall work.

To each his own.  As others have mentioned, one of many great things 
about shellac is that it is really easy to fix if something goes awry.

Also (last comment, I promise), if you're using denatured alcohol and 
you've got more than one hardware store in your community, sniff the can 
before you buy it.  I've found that different manufacturers denature 
their alcohol in different ways, and some are much better smelling than 
others.  In my town, the TrueValue affiliate sells a variety that's much 
sweeter smelling than the headache-inducing version that I got at the 
Borg.

Heh, two pounds as a lifetime supply. . .

Chris, discouraged last night by the warping of a door stile that I'll 
need to start over from scratch.
-- 
Christopher S. Swingley   University of Alaska Fairbanks
cswingle@i...     http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/

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