Shellac Problem

[JIM PETERS II]

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.

[Kent A Bathurst]

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.

[Carl Beckett]

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!

[John Coloccia]

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

[Scott Holmes]

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.