Replies

1. 
   WillGeorge | Apr 20, 2006 06:29pm | #1

   LOL LOL ... get a "shellacin'...

   My GrandPa said that when I was a kid and did something stupid,, About Every Day (sometimes my brother really did it!)

   But GrandPa used a Hickory Stick...

   Thanks for the post.. I LOVED my GrandPa anyway..

2. 
   forestgirl | Apr 20, 2006 07:04pm | #2

   [disclaimer:  I am not a finishing expert]  Thinning the shellac controls how much actual shellac is left on/absorbed into the surface.  Take a wash coat for instance:  This is applied to blotch-prone woods to even the surface out for stains.  The bare wood absorbs very unevenly in, say, cherry or alder.  By laying down a wash coat, which is very thin shellac, the more absorbent areas soak up the finish and this evens out the surface over all.  But it has to be a thinned coat so that you're not coating the entire surface with heavy shellac, leading to the stain not laying down well at all.

   The alcohol evaporates off quickly, so you can do your coats very close together, compared to other finishes.

   A thicker coat (a 2# coat, say) will lay down more shellac with each application, building the finish.

   That was a pretty crude way of explaining it, but it'll get you started. 

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   

1. 
   WillGeorge | Apr 20, 2006 07:11pm | #3

   shellac is like a woman.. She will only put UP with So Much..
   Forest.. Ya a Sweetheart.. I had to!

3. 
   WillGeorge | Apr 20, 2006 07:22pm | #4

   but never explains why? Gee My wife did that!

   I'd think so it 'soaks' in?

4. 
   SteveSchoene | Apr 21, 2006 12:03am | #5

   Beyond the wash coat usage, where more than about 1 lb. cut will seal out too much of the stain, the other reason for thinning is for workability.  I find that 2 lb. cut brushes very well, and pads OK too, though I often add an extra  dollop of DNA if I am padding.  Five pound cut is pretty heavy, about the same solid percentage as brush on varnish, but since it dries so fast a challenge to brush smoothly.  Except for the wash coat usage, the pound cut mix is very uncritical in using shellac.