Shellac Alligatored

[Ed Gibbons]

Where did I go wrong? I put a second coat of shellac and when it dried, in some parts it became alligatored. (new word )

I mixed the shellac myself and mixture was less than 2 weeks old.

Thanks.

[Larry Fox]

Ed, do you have a picture of this that you can post?

[Howard Acheson]

What species of wood and what did you do to prepare the surface before finishing?

Are you brushing, padding or spraying? How thick was the application? Shellac wants to be applied in very thin layers and only a few layers. Too many or too much and "alligatoring" can occur.

[Ed Gibbons]

Howard,
It was a second coat of a 2.b cut.
Ed

[Ralph Okonieski]

If you used a tack cloth between the coats, you may have contaminated the surface. I learned my lesson and only use my remaining tack cloths for dusting off tools. They do not touch wood anymore.