I just came from my shop a few minutes ago. Guess what I was doing,
Joe? Applying shellac with a surgical towel, which is made from a stiff
fabric, who's composition I'm not sure of, but it works like gangbusters
when folded into a pad. I use the flat, rounded edge, about four inches
wide. I cut 3# shellac by about 30-50%, meaning I'm not using
anywhere near the #1 cut that others recommend for padding. Works for
me, and reduces the number of coats required for the same finish thickness.

After 3 or four coats I LIGHTLY sand with 320 to reduce the few shiny
areas that stand out. One to three (usually only one or two) more coats
after that completes the process.

David

Joe Wells wrote:

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 15:07:26 -0600, Dave Balderstone wrote:


OBWW: Gotta run, I think the shellac on daughter's coat rack is just about
dry. (At the lumberyard to buy some poly glue a couple of hours ago. Cell
rings. SWMBO sez "Get some coat hooks. I can't walk in (daughter's) room
and I want something on the wall to hang up the backpacks, coats, bike
helmet, etc, etc, etc..." Sez I, "Yes, dear.")


I'm trying to teach myself how to apply shellac without it looking like a
streaky mess. I've abandoned brushing and tried padding some today. Seems
to be a much better method. I just ripped out a hunk of old t-shirt and
stuffed it with some old cheesecloth. I just dipped this into the shellac,
but the descriptions that I've found online usually say to use a squeeze
bottle to shoot shellac into the central pad.

Anyone have any tips, tricks, gotchas about applying shellac?