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After years of planning, I finally built my woodworking bench. In the finishing process (blo/shellac/waterlox) I spilled half a bottle of garnet shellac on the MDF top! At that point, I was committed to putting the same finish on the MDF, and after 4 coats of shellac, i have a mottled, overlapped finish that looks like hell. Should I sand it off at this point or try to remove it with alcohol? All of the wood surfaces are fine, just the MDF is the problem.
One - its a workbench........that's not the first thing that will happen to it to mess up the appearance. ;)
Two - can you simply remove the MDF and flip it upside down and start over?
I dunno that you can get the shellac out - MDF is pretty doggone porous, and I'd think it soaked in pretty far............
Good luck.
Hi Jim,
Sorry this happened to you - it can be frustrating after so much time and effort and energy goes into the project, only to have the finish less than satisfactory.
I have a shellac/MDF outfeed, and router table top. I have found it to be very durable (and slick), and easily fixed if damaged (which hasnt happened much).
It sounds like its down to a matter of whether you can stand looking at it or not. My experience with work surfaces is that they get a little messy over time (finish spills, stains, etc etc) and to me at least I dont mind the look (it looks used, but highly functional)
Only you can decide, but given its MDF I will guess you werent aiming for heirloom furniture, but highly functional/practical. You got that - my vote is to just use it!
Consider yourself lucky. You've gotten the "first dent" out of the way and now you can relax and use your bench the way it's designed to be used :)
4 coats of shellac may be the probem... BLO then seal it with shellac 1 coat will seal it. then varnish if you want.
My workbenches all get the same finish. An oil/varnish blend an in-the-wood finish. I usually stop sanding @ 120 grit so the bench isn't too slippery.