I’m a new but enthusiastic wood refinisher—reading some books, browsing some sites,. We live in a 1916 house in Oakland, CA with beautiful interior woodwork, most of which is in great shape. But one windowsill is showing some battle scars (some water stains, and lots of general fading—photos attached). I’d like to refinish it. From my reading, the original finish is most likely shellac. 1) If I were to use amber shellac to refinish, would I first need to strip the existing marred shellac finish, or could I apply a coat (or coats?) of shellac directly to the sill ? 2) If I do need to remove the damaged finish (and I suspect I do…), what would be a good solvent to use on shellac, since denatured alcohol is illegal in California? Thank you for your help!
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I would sand that first, probably 120 grit then 180.
Once happy with the evenness, you could apply a layer of shellac as a seal. I would finish with water based polyurethane though as shellac is not very robust. It will stick to almost anything though, and almost anything will stick to it.
You can use 99% ethanol for removing shellac (I can't say for sure if you can buy this, but it's silly if you cannot) and isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol also works well enough with shellac though it is a little slower to dissolve in my experience.
Personally I would stick with shellac. The original lasted for 100 years, I see no need to change.
If you remove/repair the damage you can just put a new coat of shellac over the existing finish. if it is indeed shellac. the new coat will bond to the old.
In CA there are a few creative substitutes we need to use now for melting and mixing shellac. A quick internet search will provide you with the usual suspects.
Foe minor repairs when only a small amount is needed, you can use Everclear, which is a grain alcohol found in the liquor store
I second what Rob said above.
If you are sure this will never get wet, shellac is fine. But water based poly over sealcoat shellac won't change the color or look, and protects much better than plain shellac.
You can still find alcohol in specialty pain and marine stores in CA, I believe.
All of the above. Remove it first, don't try to do it in place. With that amount of staining, I'd consider flipping it and finishing the underside.
Zinsser amber shellac is waxed, which is fine if that all you're putting on it. 0000 Steel wool with Howards FeedNWax is a great way to polish off a shellaced surface.
I believe amber is a 3# cut, so it really best to diluted 50/50. Alcohol is an issue for you, I recommend contacting the guys at shellac.net. They are in CA and I believe can help you out as well as any questions you have about shellac. Great people!
Mohawk Shellac Reducer doesn't contain methanol and is legal in California. I'd look them up, they're professional products so one of the nice things is the ingredients are listed on the website. Everclear will also work but I heard that's illegal there too.
You don't need to fully strip the existing finish off, just clean it up with the reducer and then recoat as you want. I'd stick with shellac, the existing finish lasted a century!
Personally, I feel that the specific products like the Mohawk (even Everclear) provide a better finish than DNA, so I can't say I really miss it.
Thanks, everyone. This is all such valuable information. I really appreciate your time and wisdom—it's so helpful to learn from a community of practitioners.
When you can't buy something in California, there is always Reno. My favorite is when I ask for a gallon of something and they tell me they can only sell it to me in a quart. "Well give me 4 quarts then!" ...and they do! All they accomplish is to cost me more money. My house has lots and lots of woodwork and many different types of finishes. I have to say that the woodwork that is done in shellac has held up as good or better than most. Better yet it gets better with age which really nothing else does! 100 years you say ? Lucky to get 20 out of most finishes. Shellac is also easily repairable. Doesn't like water much though.
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