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I am installing 12″ wide pine floors in a house and the clients want the look of shellac with good durability. I was thinking dewaxed garnet shellac with poly or ureathane. Is one better to cover the shellac than the other?
Any thoughts would be helpful.
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Chuck, in my opinion the "look of shellac" is a look of depth to the wood and finish, which you can get with any oil-based varnish. I use shellac under water-based finishes to provide depth, but see no need with oil-based finishes. If you decide to use shellac with poly, I don't think you'll have any adhesion problems, shellac sticks to most everything and everything sticks to it.
*i've had good results using poly. 2 coats satin, 2 coats high gloss, 2 finish coats satin. disc the floors lightly after each coat with 100 grit discs. depth is increased and floors will wear forever.
*Shellac sticks to most everything (it really does; compatible with almost everything), except poly....it says so on the label of any poly product, and you're tempting fate to go against it. May seem to work....for how long, who knows? I've seen it fail right from the getgo.
*Just curious why you use satin at the start; you always end up with the sheen of the last coat applied, and it's not good practice to put a hard (gloss) coat over a soft (satin) coat. For that matter, you can do all coats in gloss, and rub the final finish down with Scotchbrite pads on a machine to the satin, with the advantages of a hard, clear coat.
*adrian: the first coat of satin acts as a sealer. most of it gets sucked up, then after discing it's mostly gone having polermized into the pores. next satin coat gives me an even base. 2 coats of gloss achieves depth. last 2 coats satin knocks high gloss sheen down and provides durability. i did'nt invent this but had it suggested by my coatings rep.. by the way most of my floors are walnut or cherry with details. i've never done this on oak. try it you'll like it. :-)
*Tried poly over shellac years ago (1960s), never again, it was fisheye city, lots of secondary sanding. Maybe better poly now?
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I am installing 12" wide pine floors in a house and the clients want the look of shellac with good durability. I was thinking dewaxed garnet shellac with poly or ureathane. Is one better to cover the shellac than the other?
Any thoughts would be helpful.