I’m in the process of applying an arts and crafts-style finish to a quarter-sawn white oak dining table. The process has been described in FWW articles and goes like this. Step 1, apply water based aniline dye, let dry. Step 2, apply a thin coat of dewaxed shellac with cotton pad, let dry and knock down with maroon abrasive pad. Step 3, apply oil-based gel stain as galze and wipe off excess. At this point I let the gel stain dry for about four days. During step 4 is where I think I may have created the problem. I applied another layer of dewaxed shellac to seal the glaze but ended up applying a much thicker layer than I intended. Against my better judgment, I re-worked several areas. This layer had visible drag marks from the pad and a generally uneven appearance. I figured I could rub out the brush marks with a maroon abrasive pad, leaving a smooth surface for several coats of wipe-on ploy. I wish! After some vigorous rubbing, I vacuumed the surface and wiped off the shellac dust with a tack cloth. I applied wipe-on poly with a cotton cloth. Unfortunately, there is a cloudy appearance to the finish and noticeable fine scratch marks visible in a raking light. It appears as if the scratches are in the shellac coat, under the poly. Is anyone else familiar with this problem. Did I abrade the shellac coast too aggressively and the ploy failed to fill the scratches? I’ve done this type of finish several time before and never had this problem. Any advice would be welcome.
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Replies
Maroon pads are courser than I would use to smooth finish. Actually I prefer not to use any of the pads (steel wool or synthetic) between coats. The pads conform so much to the surface that they don't just take off the tops of the brush strokes or dust nibs, or what ever they are being used for, they reach into the valleys as well. I typically use fine sand paper, usually 320 grit, but if the coat is thin and I don't want to risk sanding through I might use 400 grit.
But the real problem is trying to touch up shellac before it has fully dried. That can just exacerbate the problem. Your mistake was in assuming you had fixed the problem--baaically just not seeing the scratches that were still there.
At this point your alternatives are pretty limited. I would go ahead and gently sand the problem area to see if you can remove the problem scratches. That will involve sanding through the poly and may leave the appearance of a line aroung the sand through, like the line around a valley on a topographical map. Then apply a second coat of varnish and look critically at yoir results. I'd say the odds are better than even that you won't be happy with the repair. But if it does work you will have saved yourself a bunch of work, because if isn't satisfactory, the only other solution I see is to use chemical stripper to remove all the finish on the top and to start your finish sequence anew. Bummer.
You may have reworked the areas beyond repair. Try to allow 7 more days curing time - so when you sand it only powders - no gum up at all.
Use a 320 or 400 sterate paper and with light hand pressure - paper in your palm - sand (with the grain) and keep checking to see if you can smooth things enough to rescue the finish.
Hope this helps
SA
Thanks for the advice, I think I'll have to strip the finish and re-start the process. The good news is I used the same process to finish the base of the table and that came out fine. So, I'll just have to re-finish the top.
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