Changing from Shellac finish

[Wombat2]

We have an old cedar table that has been in the family for years (wedding present to my mother-in-law made by her father). We had it restored about 35 years ago and it was French polished finished which my wife did not want as it was not very durable as a 'every day' table. Today in 5 minutes flat I removed years of water stains and marks with a spray of methylated spirits but the finish has wrinkled. I know with work I can get it back to a smooth finish but my wife wants to give it a more durable finish for daily use and wants a clear lacquer/polyester finish.

Can I just give it a fine sand and paint over the shellac or do I have to strip it completely?

[ubeaut]

If the table has any antique value then putting anything other than shellac on it will degrade that value dramatically.

Our Polish Reviver could have got rid of the water marks etc in no time flat and made the surface almost impervious to further damage from water, alcohol, heat, etc.

Anyway,,,,,,, Polyurethane etc can mark the same as shellac if not cared for and you probably won't get anywhere near 35 years use out of it. Polyester would make the surface almost glass hard and bring out amazing grain but needs some special attention to apply. Would be the last thing I'd put on a cedar table though, same for lacquer.

The other alternative is Hard Shellac. It's a traditional finish for cedar (as in it's shellac) and it has a high resistance to marking from alcohol, water and heat. Has good toughness and longevity compared to polyurethane.

If you do decide to use polyester then if the current shellac is stripped back with abrasive there shouldn't be any reason why it can't be sprayed directly onto the sanded surface, as polyester can't be applied directly to the surface of timber or metal because it won't adhere to the raw timber. It needs to key to a finish that is already keyed to the timber, and the shellac should do the trick. Should..... No guarantee it definitely will. You may need to talk to manufacturer/supplier to find out for sure.

Still wouldn't be my finish of choice for a cedar table. For a boardroom table.....Yes most definitely yes. But for yours..........

Cheers - Neil

[Wombat2]

You convinced me ( or at least SWMBO ) - what is Hard Shellac?

DUH! clicked the link - what is the coverage? How much needed for a standard table top? Can it be applied over the existing finish (which is turned to a 'winkle' finish after spraying with metho) or do I need to prepare somehow?

[RufflyRustic]

I'd second the use of Hard Shellac. I stripped and refinished our kitchen island benchtop with Hard Shellac. Found out the timber was sydney bluegum or something similar instead of pine, as I'd originally thought. The benchtop gets a beating and all it needs is a wipe down with warm water on a cloth, a dry off and it's go-to-go again! What's even better, is that when it comes to needing a touch-up, I'll just give it a light sand, clean the dust off and reapply another couple of coats of Hard Shellac.

Back to your table. I'd be inclined to gently sand back the top and until there are no winkles, clean off the dust and then apply the HShellac. One bottle of Hard Shellac should be all you'd need and I doubt very much that you'd use of that one bottle as it should be cut back before using it as per U-Beaut's instructions.

cheers
Wendy