Talcum powder as grain filler with shellac

[homey]

Digressions aside, many thanks to Rob for the very interesting and helpful info.

Brian

[Lyle]

I guess I am trying to find a silver bullet finish or technique.
But as I am improving my skills it seems you just keep trying to get better tools and such.
I am really appreciative of all the help from all on this forum.
Lyle

[Cliff Rogers]

So going on what Rob auscab has found, maybe this is worth a try. TRIPOLI POWDER

[Claw Hama]

Lyle, yes use the same way you would normaly with shellac, circles, figure eights etc, just the same but the slightly thicker mixture should
fill the cracks faster. I don't usually use fillers, I just do more coats and sand between. If the timber is that cracked etc I most probably would
not use it to start with. Cedar is a little anoying sometimes but mostly just more coats and sanding. Slower is usually better, the same with abbreviations. Long hand is better than short Neils book is great, I might only get it down every two years but has lots of very helpful
information it it from someone who knows how to do it.

[auscab]

I guess I am trying to find a silver bullet finish or technique.
But as I am improving my skills it seems you just keep trying to get better tools and such.
I am really appreciative of all the help from all on this forum.
Lyle

Are you polishing just using shellac Lyle?

As in stain or leave natural . Coat and build up with shellac . Then finish off with oil , and or wax ?

Forgetting the Talc / Pumice thing for now.
Grain filling with shellac has a lot to do with the way you use it . Once you figure it out things get a lot easier.
Just Shellac fills grain . The circle and figure eight work you do while bodying up is what does it . Its pushing the soft shellac sideways into the grain holes.

If you just give something 20 brush coats and sand back, it doesn't work for a number of reasons I wont go into .
But if you did give something 20 brush coats and then after it dried you tried to wash it off with Metho . Turning the shellac soft and rubbing in circles, You would see the shellac go flat and sideways fill the grain and if you stopped at the right point and straightened off you would have a pretty good place to re start the polish job . A thin job with the grain full is what a polisher is aiming to do . Never Thick and gloopy .

When I worked in the workshop where we did tons of stripping and re polishing , we had a 40 ft shipping container load from the UK to work through each year. And all the local restoration that would come in . The amount of times we stripped and saw the grain choke and fill this way while washing off a polish job . We would stop and talk about it . We were using stripper though not Metho to strip . And unfortunately the pieces were then to be deep sanded , stained , grain filled and french polished. It's what made it sell in the mid 70s. All Victorian Mahogany and Walnut mostly . With a bit of Bazillion Rosewood , Oak and the rest .

So there's an easier way than that and that is . Seal in your colour job if there is one with a couple of brush coats , let it dry . Then start putting on shellac to fill the grain . You just lay on quite a bit . If its with a rubber I might go 6 wet coats , letting the last just dry enough so the next will go on and not wipe off the last . With those on the timing is the next important step . let all the dry come back the next day and you've wasted the effort .
Attack it to fast and the whole lot may wipe off with a wet rubber .
Let it sit between 5 to ten minutes at most and with a wet rubber start off straight then go into rounds and eights on the soft stuff underneath . You have to push firmly and work the stuff without ripping it up . The friction and the pressure will be pushing the soft stuff around . You cant really see it . A fresh dip of shellac on the rubber keeps it sliding . If its a table you give the top a break and do the rails then legs then back to the top .

You can only go for so long adding and working before the job is so sticky a fly would get trapped if it landed on it . Any more and you risk pulling the polish off back to raw wood . You let is sit for a day .

Next day give it a rub back with 400 grit and a linseed oil and turps soloition 20/ 80 . Cut it back as hard as you can without touching the colour job / stain or wood .

Then give it another Body, the same as the last . With the first body you will hardly notice a difference with the open grain . It is there but not for you to see yet. When you finish this second body you will now see a difference .

It only takes three good goes on most woods .

Cut back hard with the O/T mix and 400 on the second body next day . Then do the third .

At the end of this you will be pretty happy with your self .

You should have a full grain and a thin job .

Let it dry , Next day a cut back and with much thinner polish the finishing off starts . Its a small version of the bodying with much thinner shellac ,. It gets a lot thinner towards the end and I use linseed oil to get it sliding and shining .

One thing I rarely use for this is a bleached or Blonde shellac by its self . Never liked the way it works.
Flake or button shellac works better but the colour of it only suits Mahogany or Red cedar work . Red/ Brown and dark .

I do use a lot of blonde though because I'm polishing colours I don't want to see go Amber . So I always add some flake to the blonde . 10 to 20 % . It works better , is stronger and at that strength its not changing the colour .

Happy new year .

Rob