OK it’s only for interior use but I love it..
As a painter I’m an absolute failure!
I wind up with runs, drips and missed spots, and that’s just on me!
This stuff is so great I can’t believe it’s not insanely expensive, but it’s actually cheaper than most..
I just slop it on with a big “ol brush and it’s dry inside of 15 minutes.. It almost never runs and if it does it really doesn’t matter..
It’s dry. ready to handle inside of 15 minutes!
If you make a mistake you can just wipe out your mistake with a rag and some alchohol.
My piano was finished with it in 1930 and I removed it all in a few hours with a rag and some alchohol. No scraping, no sanding, no wire brushes, etc..
I’ll slop some more back on and inside of 15 minutes be ready to put it back into place.. Actaully because it’s a piano I’ll give it two more coats giving a real light scuff between coats with an ultrafine sanding pad..
It’s harder than most polyurethanes and other finishes and when used on a floor my 150 pound Newfoundland with claws that haven’t been trimmed in a few years hasn’t left a scratch no matter how excited he is..
When and if he should scratch it. I’ll take a rag with some alchohol and rub the scratch saying abra cadabra and the scratch disappears..
(actaully the abraca cadabra part is optional) It’s rich looking, deep,and glossy without looking plasticy.
Wonder what it is?
Think of bug butt juice..
Replies
more like female bug juice
Good ol' shellac.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" If ya plan to face tomorrow, do it soon"
lac lac. 100 years ago they used it everywhere.
The best stain killer you will ever use. I like to cut the white pigmented 4 or 5 to 1 for interior priming. Powders up better than anything.live, work, build, ...better with wood
Just don't dare light a match near it!--------------------------------------------------------
For a good time, visit MyToolbox.net See some of my work at TedsCarpentry.com
TedW
Lite away, just wait the fifteen minutes or so it takes to dry!
(sarcasm mode on)....works pretty good if you have worked hard during the day and you paint a closed room ...you won't need painkiller that night...
(Sarcasm off)
Chris
Frenchy
That's an easy one but if your buying it strait out of the can ala Zinsser, make sure your not using "old" stuff. It has a shelf life.
Get the flakes and make your own, you can get different colors, garnet, orange, blond,...........very easy to do, just add alcohol with the flakes and in about 24 - 48 hours its ready to use, mo better to because its dewaxed, unlike some of the premixed.
Doug
Still used in candy coatings and 1000's of other everyday things...
Here is a good site for shellac:
http://www.shellac.net/faq.html...that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Jeff, are they back in business?
They disappeared last year, no phone no email.
Have you done business with them lately?
Joe H
I have not purchased from that site in ages. The information is still there to share though...
I remember having to mix my first batch of shellac in patern making class at Brooklyn Tech. I swear the flakes came out of a container that must have poured flakes into the hands of students back in 1910.
I found shellac flakes online at some hardcore restoration sites. I even found a stripper for milk paint. Caustic stuff, but I have not used it yet. Regular paint strippers cry uncle when they hit the milk paint layer....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
DougU
It's easy to find Zinsler in any ol big box store so those who are frightened by it and just want to try it can go there..
But you are absolutely correct!
Buy the flakes, mix your own, and save a chunk of money in the process.
Zinsser's Seal Coat is a 2-lb cut, dewaxed, straight out of the can. I bought 2 gallons to seal my timber frame. $28 per gallon, it's probably a bit cheaper than buying a gallon of alcohol and enough flakes to mix your own.
Good way to help flakes dissolve, if you do want to mix your own, is to get a cheap blade-type coffee grinder and whiz them up in that until powder. Dissolves much more quickly.
http://www.michaeldresdner.com/sealcoat.shtml
Is it still available in California? The unfortunate folks there can't get many of the things that work best. It seems they are trying to ban everything else from the place . . . (including english speaking tradesmen), and almost everything good comes with a label that it 'is known to the state of california to cause cancer or reproductive harm'.
berferd T
It's about the most benign stuff on the planet!
You could drink it if it weren't denatured.. since they serve alchohol in California last I heard There isn't a reason in the world it would be banned there or anyplace..
AND!!!!!
they coat pills and lots of other stuff with it so you already are eating it whenever you take a pill. Just don't tell your wife she's eating bug butt juice when she's taking her midol !!!!!
"You could drink it if it weren't denatured.. since they serve alchohol in California last I heard There isn't a reason in the world it would be banned there or anyplace.."No, but California list beverage alchohol as a prop 65 carcenagenic and casues development delays.
You're really huntin' Bill,
That is true, if you drink enough booze you will die. Not just in California but pretty much anyplace. So I would suggest that you follow the states guildlines and avoid drinking too much..
However doctors do report that a moderate amount of alchohol consumption is beneficial. So I guess a glass or two of the states fine wines are OK but 10 gallons of cheap booze will probabaly cause damage..
Now I'm not sure what all this has to do with the greatest finish ever for woodwork, but I enjoy the banter...
Amber shellac is my "secret formula" for matching old yellered woodwork.
I love the ability to wipe with alcohol and touch up blotches and "booboos"
Namaste
"The truth, when told does nothing but bolster a mans character." -Big Cal Stew 2006
"There are 2 kinds of people in the world, those who divide the world into 2 kinds of people and everyone else" -Gloria Steinham
"The shrub administration is a bunch of Focking CrIminals" -Me
shellac, but I'm sure I'm not the first to say so.
But I suck at applying it. I think I need one of them oval badger bristle mops. I remember my grandfather having them.
The oval badger is great for laying on varnish, but not the easiest to use for shellac. A watercolor wash brush with Taklon gold synthetic bristles works quite well. It doesn't carry lots of shellac, but it does allow you to quickly apply thin coats without brush marks or heavy overlaps.
I've got to try a different brush, thanks!
The last time I used shellac, I just wiped it on with a clean cotton rag....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
I've got some pine windows to stain. Will shellace hold up to the sun/moisture/friction on double hung windows?
Orange shellac is the traditional finish on pine (I am guessing yellow pine) trim. However, the new nitrocellulose lacquers are better UV protection. You can add TransTint dyes to get the color you want. If you want to be a purist, you can faux grain the sashes with paint, shellac the casing, and use lacquer on the sill.Me, I am using lacquer on all parts of the window, because I have it and everything will look the same.
BryanSayer
Listen, I believe I'm the worlds worst painter by a factor of 1000. I honestly wind up with more paint on me than the object I'm painting. Whatever I paint winds up with drips runs and smears..
Shellac on the other hand I water down untill it's like cheap beer. Actually more like cheap watered down beer. I use alcohol which is the real secret to painting with shellac..Buy two gallons of denatured alcohol and mix it with the gallon of shellac. It's now watered down enough to splash on.. I use a 5 or six inch paint brush and slop away. WhhhhEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
No runs because it's too watery to run. let it dry about 15 minutes or so and then take a 220 sanding sponge.. and sand the nubs that got raised off.. It takes less than ten seconds per foot to do a superb job.
Now splash a second coat on. The alcohol disolves the shellac and everything smoothes itself out.. again wait 15 minutes or so and this time spend less than 5 seconds per foot sanding with the well worn sanding pad you used the first time.. splash the third and final coat on and you have a beautiful run free paint job..
If you can't devote enough time to do a second coat the shellac will sit there patiently waiting untill you get around to doing it. an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, or two, or three, or whatever.. Alcohol always will disolve the shellac..
Don't bother trying to be neat.. slop away with watered down shellac and poof finest job ever done and you'll have done it..