Warning really large photos in the links
There are 5 coats of brushed on 2lb cut shellac from Zinser in the amber flavour. 5 coats because I sanded each coat a bit to smooth it out, 3 to get some color, and I wanted enough to be able to rub out next with steel 0000 wool and mineral spirits.
However, while brushing out the first couple of pieces I made a couple of sags? while working horizontally (flat) where I must have let it pool from teh initial brush laydown.
How do I fix these? Do I sand them out, or just get some weak shellac mixture with lots of alcohol to melt it and spread it back out?
Replies
Level it with a cabinet (card) scraper, then sand as normal. I only spray on shellac-builds up quicker and I also use the scraper on the whole surface before sanding-saves paper and irritation.
Ditto Phillip's fix. Although I would suggest wet-sanding with mineral spirits as an inbetween step between scraping the worst of the sag and the resanding. Wet sanding will help ensure that you've got the area completely level and mineral spirits won't affect the shellac.
For anyone who doesn't have a scraper... a fresh single-sided razor blade works well. I've been using them for many years instead of a scraper for fixing sags and runs in finish. Just hold the razor at about a 75 degree angle so that it's tilted slightly towards you. Pull it towards you like you would a scraper and it'll work pretty well for shaving off the high points of a run or sag.
Also... I find it works best if I scrap at a right angle to the sag. What you don't want to do is scrap from underneath the sag towards the sag. The other direction is preferable, in my experience. But, going at roughly right angles to the sag works best for me. Going at a 45 degree angle works good too. But, always from the top of the sag down, never the other way around.
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