Shellac under poly

[clowman]

I have some maple tables I was planning on putting a clear coat of shellac on them, followed by a couple coats of satin poly. I was reading the label on the shellac, and it said "not recommended as a sealer under ploy" or something like that. Am I getting ready to mess it all up? Any other suggestions? I have also considered straight poly. My customer wants the natural look on the maple.

 

[DavidF]

Interesting - I always that that shellac went under virtually anything:-?

 

[erasmussen]

If its NOT dewaxed shellac, then you dont want to use it as an undrecoat.
Here is a good site for shellac information http://shellac.net/index.html

 

[DaveO]

I would agree with using de-waxed shellac under poly. But that said, before I knew that I used regular Zinnser blond shellac 1.5# cut and then wipe-on poly on top of it, on a piece I made and the finish hasn't fallen off yet. But go de-waxed to be safe.
Dave

 

[Steve D]

I'd echo the dewaxed, that's all I ever use. I used an amber shellac under the Oxford hybrid varnish ( poly from Target coatings that sprays well) on our mission style bed out of cherry and it has held up extremely welll for 5 years now.

 

[DavidF]

Talking of cherry beds - what do you think of something like arm-a-cell (sp) or similar for my cherry bed. Or should I use this oportunity to start spraying?

 

[Steve D]

David,

I haven't used the product so I can't comment. My bed is a mission style with 50 balusters in the headboard and another 50 in the footboard (did I mention there are over 200 mortise & tennon joints, talk about a glue up :roll there was no way I was doing anything but spraying that project. IMHO there is no time like the present to spray :icon_thum . You can also control some of cherry's tendency to take a blotchy finish by spraying a light cut of shellac as a sanding sealer.