Hello All,
I’m finishing a small white oak table in this sequence: dye, shellac, glaze, shellac, glaze, shellac. I plan on leaving the parts (legs) that won’t have risk of liquid spills with the last step of shellac, but I thought the top would need more protection. For this, it seems the advice is something like Waterlox as the last coat.
I purchased Waterlox Original Satin Finish. This does not have a sealer. My question is: is the shellac sufficient as a sealer or should I purchase the Waterlox original sealer/finish?
Thanks!
Replies
You can put Waterlox right on top of de-waxed shellac, but you want to let the shellac cure for at least a few days. I've used a lot of Waterlox. The original (not satin) is very thin and easy to use. The satin finish, due to the additives, is a little more difficult to apply in my opinion. I always use a quality brush. I only use satin on the final coat. I know people forgo the satin topcoats altogether and use steel wool to get a satin finish. I've never tried that, so maybe others can give advice about that.
Thank you sir! Do you know if you can thin the Satin effectively?
I've wondered the same thing. Waterlox has great customer service and website. I'm sure they'll be able to answer.
I don't actually know if Waterlox can be used over shellac or not. I've never tried it. In my opinion, the beauty of Waterlox is that it is an oil based penetrating finish that does not need any primers or sealers to provide an excellent end result. Shellac is a film finish. Waterlox is mainly a penetrating oil. The two generally work in different ways and mixing the two is certainly not necessary if not ill advised. If you are going to start with a film finish, you should finish with one (no pun intended). If you need more durability than shellac will give you, use polyurethane as your final coats.
I've used Waterlox a lot, but not over shellac. I recommend that you talk to the experts, namely the Waterlox tech folks. Call them up; I have found them very helpful.
Waterlox Original is a wiping varnish, and is likely suitable for what you want to do, assuming the tech people say it is compatible. I would not use a brush, as you are not needing a heavy coat to seal the wood. I would use a rag that has a very fine texture (not corduroy!)
Otherwise, my personal preference is to stay away from polyurethane, as it is totally unrepairable. I would use a varnish of some other type (tho spar varnish may not harden very well.)
Can you still buy the old alkyd based varnish? There used to be, several years ago, a place locally where I could get it, but not for a long time.
Waterlox is not a penetrating oil - it is a thin wiping varnish. All varnishes are made from cooking oil with a resin (urethane, phenolic, or alkyd, for example). So when some products emphasize the oil ingredient it is misleading since the cooked product has no properties of oil. It forms a film. The original use was for gym floors, so it has to form a hard protective surface. Danish oil is a similarly misleading term.
Check Mike Pekovich's video workshop "Single Board Side Table". He used shellac and Waterlox for his finish. I'd tried his technique on a cherry side table I built and got a beautiful satin finish.
You can put Waterlox over shellac and there is no need to let it (Shellac) dry for days, it will be dry before you can turn the lights out and leave the shop. You can thin it with turpentine, although they (Waterlox support) will tell you no. You can also put a thin coat under shellac to bring out the color and pop the figure, Waterlox support will say no to this as well but it works, key is thin coat. Your finish schedule (shellac, glaze, shellac, glaze, shellac) is a bit suspect as the shellac coats will melt into each other which may affect the glaze, it may work just fine but make a finish sample of your schedule to verify before committing.
Just make certain the shellac is dewaxed. Zinsser Sealcoat is dewaxed, and readily available. I use it on almost everything. You can get others, of course, and mix you own.
Folks claim you can put dewaxed shellac on top of any finish, or under any finish. I've found no reason to doubt it.
Thanks everyone!