Our Beacon home is blessed with some gorgeous unpainted woodwork throughout. It’s one of the reasons we fell in love with the house and we always thought that one day we would restore it to it’s original splendor.
Well, that day is here. But now we don’t want to take forever with this job. That being said, it’s taking me forever to just research WTF to do!
Here’s the deal: Everything in the house is shellac. I know this because I did the denatured alcohol test. If it dissolves quickly, it’s shellac. To test for lacquer, use lacquer thinner. If neither of those dissolve it, it’s probably varnish or polyurethane.
Ok, so great! It’s supposedly easy to restore shellac. A new coat just melts away the previous coat. Well, that ain’t happening. Problem is that this is really old shellac and it has blisters, crazing and cracks. The alcohol doesn’t blend it unless I rub with steel wool, taking it down to the wood. New shellac melts bupkis.
So, I’ve been spending the last 3 days researching and testing areas and all I found out was that shellac is made from bug shit. Hence, it’s not even vegan!
Right now I’m tempted to take it down to the wood (it’s pretty easy) and redo the whole damn thing. But isn’t there an easier way? Help! Does anyone know??
Oh, PS: Shellac is totally glossy and I despise gloss!!
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I just did this with my entire wrap around staircase and 4 large parlor rooms. We sanded it all the way down – the staircase spindels are especially a pain in the arse- and then put a coat of stain poly over it.
I also hate the shiny look and the poly came out nice. Researched just putting tung oil or linseed on it afterwards, but I was surprised at how nice the poly looked in the test patches. Wish I had better news for you.
Comment by Deda Kol — February 11, 2010 @ 9:59 am
shellac, while not vegan, can be made more matte.
French Enamel Varnish, or FEV, is a mix of a little shellac, alcohol, and leather dye. its pretty gorgeous if done correctly and its whole a lot of furniture used to be varnished.
not as tough as poly though.
Comment by sean — February 11, 2010 @ 11:47 am
If you put a coat of wax over the shellac, you can change the finish. We did this with some floors. You can see the wood texture and the shellac gave a nice warm color and then the wax protects and changes the finish.
Comment by Meg — February 11, 2010 @ 12:03 pm
Ok, so I just spoke to a wood finishing guy. It looks like I’ll end up taking it down to the wood after all.
He recommended Epifane Varnish, but I see that the matte finish has to go over 4 coats of gloss. That can’t be right for an interior door?
Just searched FEV. Do I have to order it from the UK?
I tried just waxing over the shellac to take out the gloss. Fine if I didn’t have the cracks and blisters, but I have to get rid of those anyway.
At least I know I have to get rid of the old shellac now. That’s a start.
Comment by RH — February 11, 2010 @ 1:09 pm
You can rub down the gloss with fine steel wool and paste wax. The paste was will protect the shellac too. I too stripped off all the shellac down to the wood – the color of the wood was fantastic. I ordered online Deep Garnet shellac and mixed it myself. It had a great auburn color – not orange. Read Old House Woodwork Restoration: How to Restore Doors, Windows, Walls, Stairs, and Decorative Trim to Their Original Beauty by Ed Johnson and also Brice Johnson’s book The Wood Finisher. Good luck!
Comment by tina — February 14, 2010 @ 4:28 pm
Thanks for the tips! So far, stripped the entire room down and stained 1 door. The wood finisher friend said he seals with shellac, then coats with the varnish. He’s coming over tomorrow to show me. I was thinking of putting tung oil over the stain, but he said it takes a crazy time to cure and this should be the fastest way.
I’m going to do a wax over shellac test run upstairs on the pine (downstairs is oak). I don’t think I have time to strip every door in the house and get this baby on the market by Spring.
Comment by RH — February 15, 2010 @ 8:43 am
[...] so this is an update on the shellac stripping [...]
Pingback by Reclaimed Home: Green Low Impact Housing Renovation of New York, Brooklyn, New Jersey — February 18, 2010 @ 7:02 am
Shellac is not bug poop. Both shellac & lacquer are made from exoskeletons of bugs–the outside shell. It’s formed from the insect’s body fluid, which explains why it’s so hard to remove the waxy substance that results from bugs colliding with your windshield!
Comment by PJ — June 5, 2010 @ 7:54 pm
OH, FYI. Rather than sand the old “alligatored” shellac on old woodwork or furniture, denatured alcohol & fine steel wool will dissolve the old finish. You can recoat with new shellac in whatever color you choose.
Comment by PJ — June 5, 2010 @ 7:57 pm