Replicating that dark shellac look

[Kashka-Kat]

Really have gotten fond of my super dark shellac trim + doors (over fir) - but its in very rough shape so I tried the technique of applying alcohol to smooth it out.... however it didnt quite work out , so now it looks even worse - uneven color + all the other lumpy alligatored areas.

I frankly do not have the skills to apply shellac thickly and evenly enough to rebuild the finish - Lord knows I tried. Would it work to stain +a layer of garnet a layer or two over that? I can manage a couple of coats before it starts turning into a mess.

Am curious what other ways yall have found to refinish your interior trim and doors - exact products + color names would be helpful.
thx!

[nhguy]

I have little experience with shellac, but am learning as all our trim at our home of five years is shellac.
Here is one thread I have read to help me, but don't know if it will be benefical to you.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=188
The one thing I have found is shellac is very forgiving.

[KenN]

I am in the middle of fixing all of our windows. All of our trim inside is finished with shellac. The window sashes are painted on the outside, and shellacked on the inside.

I have been slowly learning how to refinish or refresh the shellac on the inside of the windows. I am only attempting this on the sashes and the inside stops.

I tried the “applying alcohol to the existing old shellac” method. Some people call this re-amalgamating. Our shellac is so old, dirty, and alligatored, that by time I got rid of the dirt and bumps there was basically no shellac left on the wood.

What I do now is remove the shellac and apply new shellac, the darkest I can find (garnet).

I remove the shellac by:

- remove the bumps and thick stuff with a card scraper
- remove the rest with alcohol and 0000 steel wool

I use a spray bottle for the alcohol. I spray a section, wait a bit, spray again, and scrub with the steel wool. When the shellac liquifies, wipe it off with a clean rag, rolling the rag as you wipe. Keep it on the wet side, if things dry out the shellac will just solidify again.

Spray, scrub, spray, wipe.

With the scraper you can get the bumps, and thick stuff, getting as much off as you can on the flat areas.

With the alcohol and steel wool you can get the shaped areas, and whatever the scraper left behind.

I refinish with new garnet shellac, to try and match the dark look of the existing old shellac. The old wood takes many many coats of shellac to build up a shine again. I find if I oil the bare wood first, letting the oil soak in overnight, the shellac builds up quicker and everything is a bit darker.

[GinaC]

Ken, could you post a photo of your wood with the garnet shellac? I'm trying to figure out what color I want mine and this would be a good starting point.

[Casey]

Hi,
Garnet shellac from shellacshack is my go-to finish also. You can darken it further by adding transtint dyes or powdered wood dye (alcohol-type). My preference is to add age to a new shellac finish with a toner coat of Java (color) gel stain, which simulates old crud/environmental dirt perfectly, leaving the dark opaque color in the cracks and crevices.
Learning to apply the shellac with a pad is also a good skill to develop, it is much smoother than brushing, and if you learn it you're half way to being able to french polish furniture.

[KenN]

Ken, could you post a photo of your wood with the garnet shellac? I'm trying to figure out what color I want mine and this would be a good starting point.

It is a gray rainy day, not good light right now. Here are some inside stops waiting to go back into the last two windows:

I get a lot of variation in color. Depends on how good the wood cleans up, or if I scrap back to fresh wood. When I oil first it also helps to even out the color and darken the wood.

The thin strips in the bottom photo are new parting strips made from very light colored fir. They are half painted and half shellacked with the same garnet shellac. They got probably half of the coats as the others.

[Manalto]

Looks nice, Ken. Your contribution is helping me out too.

Do you do any fine sandpaper sanding between coats?

[KenN]

No I don’t sand, I’ve become a lazy shellacker. I know I should but I keep forgetting to sand. The alcohol in the shellac does seem to raise the grain too. I’m still figuring this out. I have a routine now that sometimes gives me something decent. I’m at the end of 12 windows for this year. I think I lost my appetite for continuous improvement somewhere along the way

[GinaC]

Oh, that's very nice. Does it have a reddish tint, or is that just the light? I imagine it would with the name "garnet".

[1918ColonialRevival]

Hi,
Garnet shellac from shellacshack is my go-to finish also. You can darken it further by adding transtint dyes or powdered wood dye (alcohol-type)....

This x100!