Restoring a Shellac Finish
To read more about choosing a finish on our Common Woodworking site, click here. To read more about what finishes to buy, click here.
Steel wool comes in grades of coarseness and we generally avoid coarse except for stripping back a finish with a solvent. Usually shellac needs no such treatment as shellac is readily dissolved by the repairing layers of shellac coats you apply.
Rub with the grain where possible. Steel wool is different than abrasive as it cuts the surface rather than abrades it with particulate. It also creates less abrasive particles too.
The 1″ hake brush places the finish nicely. Long even strokes overlapping the wet edges ensures order and structure and I know exactly where I am up to.
If the damage is very localised you can build up layers in the immediate area and may not need to do the whole. Sometimes I will repair locally and then go across the whole with an additional coat.
I hang my steel wool because between me and others in my shop that use it it is not hanging long enough to start rusting.
A testament of a hand tool shop. I will admit that my current skill level would render that roll a dust wreath.
Love the “(yellow)” duster… …we heard, Paul!
I swear you only put this on your blog to mention the yellow duster!
Paul,
Don’t remember if you have used other finishes?
Thanks!
Thanks Paul. You mention how to treat localized spots above. What would you do differently if someone had placed a glass on the surface and left a circle in the finish?
If I had to guess, I would say, sand the impacted area 220 grit and then reapply shellac.
That will work fine. It depends on what the glass ring caused. If it is spirit alcohol that means the finish is often damaged by the alcohol being a solvent that softens the finish and causes the surface to ‘melt’ until the alcohol evaporates and leaves it hardened in an uneven state or removed altogether. In that case sand smooth with a block and 250-grit paper and then apply the shellac as described in the blog.
If it is a bloom caused usually by heat or damp then apply heat of some kind, a warm iron and towel between as if ironing clothes usually works.
Hello Paul,
I’ve got used to wax everything I make after applying shellac. I am often wondering how you de-wax furniture before you start restoring it (in particular shellac-coated furniture). Is there any product or method better than the other?
Regards from France
Paul, can you give me some advice on restorations? I keep thinking that if I strip and remove the patina of some old brazilian rosewood clock, it would look amazing (as it is right now, its totally black, due to the oil that they used as finish I guess). But then again I think that it would be disrespectful to do that, even if probably the craftsman never intended to achieve such a dark color anyway. should I do it? Better still: there’s something that I can do to restore without loosing the old look?