Shellac or lacquer?

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

I like using brush on shellac or spray lacquer but don't have enough experience to decide which would be best for this box. Carcass is sapele. Drawer faces are curly maple.

Which would you use? My main concern is making the curl on the maple pop.

[Rob Young]

On a scrap piece of the same material, saturate with black dye. Sand back until dye remains only in curl. Then use either the shellac or lacquer (you can tint both as needed to modulate how yellow you want the maple to become).

The black left behind will pop the grain.

If you don't want to experiment with the black dye, just go with nearly any oil finish on the maple (it will of course yellow a bit) then seal with shellac.

Blonde shellac by itself will accentuate the curl but not so strongly as either the dye or the oil.

Here's a bit better explanation from the late Charles Neil : Link

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Oh, that sounds interesting. Will Rit dye work?

[Rob Young]

Oh, that sounds interesting.  Will Rit dye work?

Dunno. How much extra material do you have to experiment with...

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

I've got plenty of small cut offs to play with. I'll pick some up tonight.

I'd never heard of this method. I'm intrigued.

[jteneyck]

Oh, that sounds interesting.  Will Rit dye work?

I've used RIT dye on a couple of things.  It worked well.  RIT dyes aren't as color fast as something like Transtint, however, so I sprayed a UV absorbing clearcoat over it, GF's High Performance Poly. 

John

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Good to know. Thanks.

[Cooler]

I've used RIT dye on a couple of things.  It worked well.  RIT dyes aren't as color fast as something like Transtint, however, so I sprayed a UV absorbing clearcoat over it, GF's High Performance Poly. 

John

I should note that seeing "UV" on a finish does not necessarily mean it is UV absorbing or UV resistant.

Sometimes it simply means "UV cured". 

I bought some postcards once (10,000 cards) that were "UV coated".  All that meant was that the coating was UV cured.  They would fade in the sun.

UV finishes on kitchen cabinets are the same.  They are UV cured, not UV resistant. 

It could be very well that the finish you used was UV absorbing.  I am only suggesting that you read the label carefully and make sure it says "UV absorbing".  The use of "UV" without the adjective can mean almost anything.  And "UV resistant", means that the finish will not break down in the presence of UV light; it may or may not protect the underlying color as it may be UV resistant without being UV absorbing.d

Here is RIT's comments:

https://www.ritdye.com/instructions/wood/

[Cooler]

I've used RIT dye on a couple of things.  It worked well.  RIT dyes aren't as color fast as something like Transtint, however, so I sprayed a UV absorbing clearcoat over it, GF's High Performance Poly. 

John

I just looked at the specs and they do not say anything about it being UV absorbing. 

https://generalfinishes.com/wood-finishe...hane-water

A lot of finishes are called "UV XYZ Finish" but that only means that it cures in the presence of U.V. light.

[jteneyck]

I just looked at the specs and they do not say anything about it being UV absorbing. 

https://generalfinishes.com/wood-finishe...hane-water

A lot of finishes are called "UV XYZ Finish" but that only means that it cures in the presence of U.V. light.

There are a lot of things GF no longer says about their products.  The UV system seems to be one of them.  They also now say (or did last I checked) that you shouldn't use EnduroVar over shellac, but used to say it was ok as long as the shellac was dewaxed.   

Sherwin Williams KemAqua Plus contains a dual UV package, too.  They even still say so:  Link

As for UV cured, those are industrial products, not something you and I normally could buy.  

John