tas oak rocking cradle finishing advice please!

[lsd4me07]

ok so i tested the shellac and stain combo with no negative results but now i'm wondering what the correct mix of shellac and metho is for the sealer coat i tried 4 parts metho to 1 part shellac and the top coats i went 1 to 1 is this the norm?

[old pete]

Hi ISD 4 Lots of good advice from Ian there. I don't think you will have a compatibility problem with your stain and your finish polish so long as you give the stain plenty of time 24 hr min. to dry. As always try it first on a sample.

If you are going for a hard shellac finish then I'd just go for application with a good quality brush. The mix level with thinners is extremely forgiving as long as you don't put it on to thick or too concentrated. If your brew is sub optimally thin then you just need to do more coats the outcome will not suffer. I wouldn't go the french polishing route that's going to be pretty tricky with that cradle for a beginner. Go for a brushable 50/50 alcohol/ shellac mix to start. See how you go after say three coats.Watch for and correct runs when the polish is wet or clean off with alcohol and repolish that section.That hard shellac from U Beaut is a top product although a bit shiny as a finish for my personal taste.

As always don't learn on the final furniture piece learn on scrap of the same materials.

Old Pete

Good polishing Old Pete

well i've ordered some u-beaut hard shellac and this arvo managed to get my desired colour of stain using feast and watsons prooftint stains however i noticed that this particular stain is metho based same as the mentioned shellac so now i'm wondering if i've made a mistake by combining 2 metho based products and will there be any problems with it?

[ian]

well i've ordered some u-beaut hard shellac and this arvo managed to get my desired colour of stain using feast and watsons prooftint stains however i noticed that this particular stain is metho based same as the mentioned shellac so now i'm wondering if i've made a mistake by combining 2 metho based products and will there be any problems with it?

just checking back to see how the cradle finishing ios going