Amber Shellac vs Orange Shellac

Re: Amber Shellac vs Orange Shellac

Lee Schierer, McKean, PA

>Orange shellac would have meade it more orange colored. You should try Deft Clear wood finish if you want the grain to really stand out without significant color chage.

Lee

Re: Amber Shellac vs Orange Shellac

Howard Acheson

>I think you would find little differnce between amber and orange shellac. Some sellers use the words interchangably.

The only way to answer your question if to apply a finish of both to some scrap from your project. That way you will see exactly how it looks with minimal variables. Always make up a sample board following your finishing schedule before committing to the real thing. No tears.

Re: Dewaxed Blonde or Platinum

Glenn Madsen near San Francisco

>I built a pair of nightstands in cherry and maple for my son and daughter-in-law, and finished it in a dewaxed, maybe bleached, ultra-blonde shellac, which I got from Jeff Jewitt. The coloration was very slight, and the material excellent. Price certainly wasn't the cheapest, but it was reasonable, and the service was, as always, first rate. What I bought was of German origin, and liquid in a quart bottle, at higher concentration, maybe a 5lb cut. I still have maybe half left, which should cover one really large project on the near horizon.

The beauty of shellac is that, should you need to, it is easy to remove, and recoat. Denatured alcohol, cheap, easy and available. In addition, if you use the dewaxed version (Zinsser SealCoat, for example), you can easily and confidently lay other finishes over it. Pieces needing additional toughness might be so treated.

The fellow who recommended testing your finishes on scrap from your current project is telling the truth. Even highly expereinced folk can tell stories of 'stuff happening', differently than they expected.

Re: Amber Shellac vs Orange Shellac

ScottS

>Several good responses from others already. I recently got a steal of a deal on some A4 "shop grade" cherry plywood and decided to make some shop cabinets. When it came time to finish them, I tried a number of different recipes.

Like you, I found that orange shellac was a bit too orange for my tastes. If you want the look of aged cherry, I found garnet to be a better starting point though it still wasn't quite what I wanted; a bit too dark, IIRC. Jeff Jewitt sells a "dewaxed dark" which looks like it might be a nice compromise between orange and garnet. I didn't have a chance to try it, so I can't say for sure.

I had pretty good results using Sealcoat tinted with TransTint liquid dyes. I think I used one of the brown colors, maybe Mahogany Brown or Medium Brown? By changing the amount of dye added, I found I could make very subtle changes in the final color of the piece without obscuring the grain of the wood. I never got quite get the color I was looking for, primarily because I only had two shades of TransTint available. Once the SealCoat was applied and dry, I top-coated with Deft lacquer for a quick and easy finish.

In the end, I decided that I really liked the amber color added by an oil-based finish and I needed a bit more protection than the lacquer seemed to offer. Despite the fact that it took longer, I went with a wipe-on polyurethane. The 'A' face of the plywood didn't seem particularly prone to blotching, though the back face did. For my cabinets, this ended up being the insides and bottom, which I decided I could live with.

Re: GARNET WAS MY CHOICE

Bob Boswood

>I recently completed two nightstands,2 large dressers, 1 mirror and 1 king size bed all in cherry. I agonised over the finish and finally after much trial and error on test pieces decided on a spray coat of garnet shellac (11/2 to 2# cut)topped with 6 coats of sprayed lacquer. They had nearly the look I wanted and time will take care of the rest.

Bob

Re: Amber Shellac vs Orange Shellac

Howard G

>Thanks for the comments. Testing different "blends" is definitely the way to go.