16-02-2013, 04:34 PM
Hi,
I was in the workshop for 9 o'clock this morning keen to get cracking on this cabinet; with frost outside the workshop quickly heated with the radiator turned on.
I mixed the shellac and alcohol together in a jam jar and with the lid tightly secured kept giving the jar a good shake over four hours before going to bed but by this time most of the shellac had already dissolved. This was a good sign so now I knew this alcohol at least dissolved shellac.
Blonde de-waxed shellac flakes.
Yesterday I applied five heavy brush coats of shellac to the cabinet. After three coats there were still a lot of deep cracks in the veneer and these didn't want to fill with shellac so I applied buff coloured filler and when the filler had dried flatted the cabinet with 240g abrasive paper and backing block. The cabinet looked a bit better but the filler was very apparent making its presence known. I then spent a while experimenting with Bron's artists acrylic paints; as I'm colour blind this was fun but at least the filler was more subdued now.
The two colours I used are both Daler Rowney; Buff Titanium 024 Permanence System 3 Acrylic and Burnt Umber Series Permanence Cryla 223.
Two more heavy brush coats of shellac were applied and the cabinet was left in the hall overnight where it is warm to allow the shellac to fully dry. This morning in good light I noticed many more deep cracks in the veneer; nothing to be alarmed about as I expected to see them given the amount of work these veneers had be subjected to.
The shellac looked quite rough but I had an idea before flatting it; I thought I would fill the remainder of the cracks with filler but this time I wondered if I could successfully add some of the acrylic paint to the filler after all both filler and paint were water based? A small quantity of filler was mixed with Burnt Umber to darken the filler and initially I was quite timid only using a very small screwdriver to apply the filler but it not only looked a mess it would take forever; next I tried using a narrow wooden handled scraper and this gave much more control but when I had finished applying the filler I thought what the heck have I done as the cabinet looked ill? By now it was dinner time so I let the filler dry over dinner. I was pleased to find mixing the filler and paint gave a really nice creamy filler which was easy to apply.
Cabinet looking ill.
After dinner the cabinet was fully flatted and what a disappointment; not only was the filler laughing at me but now I had cut right through to bare filler where I had previously spent so much time touching in with paint. The burnt Umber didn't have the expected result because the natural buff colour of the filler gained dominance and once again the cabinet was tormenting me. The filler looked bad enough in the grain but a couple of joints now showed distinct lines of filler and the colour of the filler was a great deal lighter than the colour of the veneer?
Once again I began touching in the filler using a very fine artists brush and mixing the two colours best I could but this was going to take forever now all the small cracks had been filled in. Thankfully at low points such as this I tend to come up with a bright idea and I reasoned that as the cabinet was sealed with shellac only the bare filler was exposed? Could I take advantage of this to my benefit; I mixed up a darkish brown then with a piece of clean cloth wrapped around my finger I dipped the cloth into the paint and simply rubbed an area of filler; it was pure inspiration and worked brilliantly; the filler grabbed the paint but the shellac rejected it and as a bonus there wasn't a definite cut off as experienced whilst applying the paint with the brush; it looked more natural and without any real thickness to it.
Cabinet after today's session.
Now I made up a traditional French polishing rubber and had a decent session applying many rubbers of shellac; the cabinet has finally shaken hands with me and is behaving; I've knocked off to allow the shellac to fully dry because it had started to become tacky which is the warning sign to stop. The cabinet is now looking more as I expected it to look and I'm pleased to add a picture showing as it now is; more work is still needed but the end is now in sight. I've had a good day and the alcohol is working out well so far.
Kind regards, Col.
I was in the workshop for 9 o'clock this morning keen to get cracking on this cabinet; with frost outside the workshop quickly heated with the radiator turned on.
I mixed the shellac and alcohol together in a jam jar and with the lid tightly secured kept giving the jar a good shake over four hours before going to bed but by this time most of the shellac had already dissolved. This was a good sign so now I knew this alcohol at least dissolved shellac.
Blonde de-waxed shellac flakes.
Yesterday I applied five heavy brush coats of shellac to the cabinet. After three coats there were still a lot of deep cracks in the veneer and these didn't want to fill with shellac so I applied buff coloured filler and when the filler had dried flatted the cabinet with 240g abrasive paper and backing block. The cabinet looked a bit better but the filler was very apparent making its presence known. I then spent a while experimenting with Bron's artists acrylic paints; as I'm colour blind this was fun but at least the filler was more subdued now.
The two colours I used are both Daler Rowney; Buff Titanium 024 Permanence System 3 Acrylic and Burnt Umber Series Permanence Cryla 223.
Two more heavy brush coats of shellac were applied and the cabinet was left in the hall overnight where it is warm to allow the shellac to fully dry. This morning in good light I noticed many more deep cracks in the veneer; nothing to be alarmed about as I expected to see them given the amount of work these veneers had be subjected to.
The shellac looked quite rough but I had an idea before flatting it; I thought I would fill the remainder of the cracks with filler but this time I wondered if I could successfully add some of the acrylic paint to the filler after all both filler and paint were water based? A small quantity of filler was mixed with Burnt Umber to darken the filler and initially I was quite timid only using a very small screwdriver to apply the filler but it not only looked a mess it would take forever; next I tried using a narrow wooden handled scraper and this gave much more control but when I had finished applying the filler I thought what the heck have I done as the cabinet looked ill? By now it was dinner time so I let the filler dry over dinner. I was pleased to find mixing the filler and paint gave a really nice creamy filler which was easy to apply.
Cabinet looking ill.
After dinner the cabinet was fully flatted and what a disappointment; not only was the filler laughing at me but now I had cut right through to bare filler where I had previously spent so much time touching in with paint. The burnt Umber didn't have the expected result because the natural buff colour of the filler gained dominance and once again the cabinet was tormenting me. The filler looked bad enough in the grain but a couple of joints now showed distinct lines of filler and the colour of the filler was a great deal lighter than the colour of the veneer?
Once again I began touching in the filler using a very fine artists brush and mixing the two colours best I could but this was going to take forever now all the small cracks had been filled in. Thankfully at low points such as this I tend to come up with a bright idea and I reasoned that as the cabinet was sealed with shellac only the bare filler was exposed? Could I take advantage of this to my benefit; I mixed up a darkish brown then with a piece of clean cloth wrapped around my finger I dipped the cloth into the paint and simply rubbed an area of filler; it was pure inspiration and worked brilliantly; the filler grabbed the paint but the shellac rejected it and as a bonus there wasn't a definite cut off as experienced whilst applying the paint with the brush; it looked more natural and without any real thickness to it.
Cabinet after today's session.
Now I made up a traditional French polishing rubber and had a decent session applying many rubbers of shellac; the cabinet has finally shaken hands with me and is behaving; I've knocked off to allow the shellac to fully dry because it had started to become tacky which is the warning sign to stop. The cabinet is now looking more as I expected it to look and I'm pleased to add a picture showing as it now is; more work is still needed but the end is now in sight. I've had a good day and the alcohol is working out well so far.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
