Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Thinning Shellac
Tom Minehan
I am turning a maple bowl with some soft spots. I am going to try to treat the spots using thinned shellac. I bought a can of Zinssner's and noticed that tool's can be cleaned with a mixture of ammonia and water.
I am going to try thinning the shellac with this mixture and apply it to the bowl. Has anyone tried this? What was the ratio of ammonia and water? Sure is cheaper using my wife's ammonia than buying a can of alcohol.
Re: Thinning Shellac
Dick Coers
There's a difference between thinning finish and cleaning brushes. I'd stick with DNA for thinning.
Re: Thinning Shellac
don stephan
Ammonia dissolves shellac so it can be removed from brushes, passage ways of spray guns, and so on. Denatured alcohol thins shellac.
alcohol and CA
John K Jordan
I always apply alcohol and shellac mixed 1:1 to soak as deep as possible. Let dry and repeat. Often I will do this several times.
For really soft wood (i.e. punky, headed toward decayed) I sometimes flood with thin CA glue. I buy this in fairly large bottles so it is cheaper. I find this almost as good as using a stabilizer! I will usually flood the entire surface to ensure evenness, turn, then apply more if I cut below the hardened wood. Use plenty of ventilation and wear safety glasses! Expect the wood to get hot. I never use accelerator.
Not long ago I tuned a three-cornered cube bowl from yellow poplar that was so soft in areas I could press my fingernail into it easily. Tearout was horrible. After the CA method the final finish was almost like glass - hard and smooth.
JKJ
