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I have an old house which is approx. 69 years old and in which the original trim woodwork is composed of yellow pine and was finished with shellac. I’m guessing, but I imagine the shellac used was /or is similar to a 3lb. cut orange shellac. The color of the wood is a dark reddish brown color. The finish is original, and is starting to alligator and blister into very tiny beadlike particles that you can actually scrape off dry with a putty knife. Instead of sanding, is there a way I can restore this finish?
I thought about wiping the wood down with denatured alcohol first, followed with new shellac. Would this work, or would I be better off using boiled linseed oil? I hear that boiled linseed oil is good for restoring water marks and things, but if used too much, will cause the wood to permanently darken and to become “gummy”.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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I thought about wiping the wood down with denatured alcohol first, followed with new
shellac.
This is a much better idea --
Do not use boiled linseed oil over the shellac -- it wont dry
Jeff
*>I am refinishing some hollow core doors that are in my home, which were originally finished with orange shellac. I sanded them down then started applying coats of orange shellac. It said on the can that there was no need to sand between coats. I'm not happy with the results after about five coats of it. It looks grainy and my husband told me it is just because the doors are not of good quality and the wood is very porous and there's not much I can do about it. Do you have any suge
*I'm not sure what you mean by "looks grainy" (shellac doesn't have any grain---do you mean it feels rough?) and I don't know what that could have to do with the wood being porous. If it was already covered with shellac, the wood itself isn't absorbing the new coats. Shellac is a film finish, so even the first original coat created a barrier between the air and the wood that will not be penetrated by later coats. If it were a wood like oak you might need successive coats to fill in all those little holes (you would want to use a wood filler instead) but I don't have the impression your hollow core door is like that.There's no way you should have to put on five coats of new shellac, and it doesn't sound to me as if it's the wood. Instead, I would try sanding it very well, applying another coat, sanding with 220 grit paper, and applying yet another coat. If the result is better than you have now, then you'll know the problem was simply not sanding between coats to remove all the inevitable dust nibs. One or at most two more coats, sanding between each, will then do it. Then sand with a 300 grit paper and apply wax for a beautiful shellac finish. Hope it works.
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