Replies

1. 
   jazzdogg | Aug 14, 2006 06:30am | #1

   Hi Brian,

   Whose gel stain did you use? I'm familiar with General Finishes gel stains (which contain urethane), but haven't spent much time working with other brands.

   How did you apply the gel stain? Did you apply a uniform coat and wipe off all of the residual stain, or did you apply a layer of stain and leave it to cure?

   BTW, if you are planning to topcoat with urethane, you may want to make sure you use dewaxed shellac, like Zinsser's Seal Coat, to avoid any potential problems with incompatibility or delamination.

   Edited to add: I'm used to referring to the "strength" of shellac in terms of its "cut," e.g., a one-pound cut (which means one pound of shellac flakes, dissolved in one gallon of denatured alcohol). It would be helpful if you would explain what you meant by "5% solids."

    

   -Jazzdogg-

   "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie

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   Edited 8/13/2006 11:34 pm by jazzdogg

   
   

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   Edited 8/13/2006 11:35 pm by jazzdogg

2. 
   SteveSchoene | Aug 14, 2006 09:16am | #2

   That ought to be long enough, but I would give it a while longer just for safety.  Gel stain doesn't penetrate very much anyway, and even less over the wash coat of shellac, and the binder that holds the pigment to the wood isn't very strong, so rubbing off pigment isn't very unusual.  You just don't want it muddying the top coat. 

   I assume the shellac is dewaxed shellac--polyurethane finishes don't adhere very well to shellac with wax in it.  Using a two pound cut of dewaxed shellac is a good idea here to help seal off the gel stain from the top coats when there is doubt about the curing of the stain.  You don't need to sand between coats of shellac, but you should sand the last coat, with 320 grit.  I assume you are using multiple coats of shellac to deepen the color some more, otherwise one or two coats should be plenty. 

    

    

1. 
   bmyyou | Aug 14, 2006 04:05pm | #3

   The shellac is Zinsser's Bulls Eye Blonde - it is not dewaxed so how can I dewax it?  I don't want the urethane to delaminate.   I was planning to put 2-3 coats of the shellac thinned to 2lb cut next, sand with 320 gr as recommended, and finish with 2 coats of wipe on poly.

   Thanks

1. 
   HowardAcheson | Aug 14, 2006 09:16pm | #4

   This is the Zinsser Sealcoat product you need: http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductID=72It is very difficult to effectively dewax Zinsser's shellac. They put their shellac through a process to incease its shelf life and the old way of just letting it set for a week will generally not work well.However, let me ask why you want to apply the shellac? If you plan to use a poly varnish, you can just thin the first coat 25-30% with mineral spirits and it will accomplish the same as using a shellac. The first coat of any film finish acts as a sealer. There is no need for a separate product.Howie.........