Woodworker's Journal 2009-33-5, страница 30

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a long tradition. In Ian's parlance, "cleanup and polish" means getting the surface prepared by planing, sanding or both Ccleanup") and ready to receive the finish ("polish").

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; a furniture finish, shellac and wax — beeswax — has much to commend it. I'll offer some of its virtues. First off, it retains both the color and the texture of the wood better than any other finish. It's simple and quick to apply. As well, it can be done a bit at a time as parts are ready without any real interruption to the making process. This is important to my "MO," since all inside faces and edges that can't be planed after a glue-up are cleaned up and polished before the glue-up. Afterwards, inside glue squeeze-out is left to harden as it will come off the waxed face cleanly with no staining of the parts. True, there are finishes which hold up better to food and drink spillage. But I find that handmade furniture is often spared that sort of mistreatment.

Shellac

The purpose of the shellac is to act as a barrier or a base to hold up the wax and prevent it soaking into the wood. All that is needed to form this barrier is a one-coat layer of shellac; however, all shellacs are not

equal. They can vary in color and in solids content and they can be applied in different ways, any of which will affect the result. To learn a lot more about shellac, you can read about it in Michael Dresdner's book. The essentials to know about using it are these:

You can buy it in two ways: in a can ready to use or as dried flakes which you mix with denatured alcohol. The can will have on it a date of manufacture — look for it. Beside that will be the maker's choice of color and cut. Read the directions on the can; it will tell you the shelf life from the date of manufacture and the "cut." A one pound cut is a pound of flakes to a gallon of solvent. A five pound cut is five pounds of flakes to the gallon. For our purposes, a two to three pound cut is good. Makers use terms like "clear," "transparent"

and "orange" to indicate color — use the most transparent (the one with the least color). If you use flakes, buy the ones which have the least color.

Application

Shellac can be brushed or "ragged" on. Ragged on means dipping a rag in the stuff and wiping it on the

Years ago, you had no choice but to make your own shellac. Today, the ready-made product does the job, but keep an eye on shelf life. It's widely available in clear, white and orange varieties.

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October 2009 Woodivorker's Journal