French Polish for neanderthals

[Brian Holcombe]

After one early experience with French polish I have shelved the idea for some time, but due to the fact that I cannot get outside for 4-5 months a year to apply finishes I've decided to start up with shellac once again.

The stuff out of the can seems pretty heavy on chemicals, so I am wondering if I take to mixing shellac flakes and everclear alcohol, am I creating a safe-to-use finish that will not be omitting fumes? After some years of chemical exposures (car racing and oil finishes) I've developed a sensitivity to it.

I'm very happy with using shellac as a quick wipe-on finish, so long as I keep it low build I really enjoy the result. However for things such as veneered doors I'd like to revisit french polishing as a nice way to add a little bit more depth of protection. I doubt that I will french polish much, but I think it would be nice to add to the mix.

[Curt Putnam]

https://www.shellac.net/french_polis..._handbook.html should be of interest.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Wow, I never thought I would see the day I could actually contribute to one of Brian's threads . I recently switched over to grain alcohol instead of the denatured. I'm in a closed basement and I have had fine results. I really don't notice a difference other then the smell. I'm not sure you can get the 190 proof in every state but you can here. That bottle was $30, many many times more expensive then denatured but I think it's worth it.

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[Christian Thompson]

I think if you are fine around liquor you should be good with shellac and everclear. I used it on a tea caddy I built for my mom that I wanted to be food safe. Supposedly shellac is edible and you can obviously drink the everclear (in very small doses :-).

[Andrew Hughes]

Brian I'm surprised your not using fresh shellac. That stuff in a can I don't what's in it but it's nothing like fresh flakes.
We all know real cheese doesn't come in a can. Same with Shellac.
http://www.shellacshack.com

[Mel Fulks]

I've used Everclear ,but besides being expensive it's getting impossible to buy in a lot of places. I like Behkol ,works much better than most DA ,still ship able ,and cheaper than Everclear.

[Stewie Simpson]

The application of multiple coats of shellac to fill the wood grain and create a gloss finish does involve a great deal of practice and experimentation. Avoiding the pre made shellac is a good starting point. imo

Stewie;

[Prashun Patel]

i used to mix my own but now just buy zinsser sealcoat shellac by the gallon. If you want to mix your own I can give you some denatured alcohol. In fact if you are new to padding shellac u might want to mix a little isopropyl alcohol in there. It will increase the open time a critical couple seconds.

As far as fumes, you can get a headache from ethanol fumes. I would only do it if you have a way to vent your basement.

I find oil based poly or Danish oil type finishes more friendly to apply Ina basement. Ymmv

[Patrick Walsh]

I have been using Waterlox in my basement shop for a couple years now.

In my oppinion it is a fairly low odor when compared to various the other options. I also really like the results i get with it.

I could be immune to smell though as i was a finisher for many years. I also have built up sensativities to various chemicals as a result as it sounds you also have.

Not Good!

[Allan Speers]

If you can't get Everclear, you can buy 200 proof ethanol here for just a little more (with shipping), but only by the gallon:

http://www.kleenxtract.com/our-products


$80 / gallon, plus $25 hazmat shipping surcharge.
========================================


This place sells it in a case of 24 1 pint containers, but I don't know the price:

http://www.capitolscientific.com/reagent-chemicals-and-lab-chemicals/pure-ethanol-200-proof-ethyl-alcohol

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Gents, this has been very helpful. I think the Behkol brand looks pretty good, based on the MSDS.

Its been a very long time since I've used anything other than oil finishes, I used buttonlac some years ago, but made the mistake of using hardware store DNA, which did not do well even with an open garage, mask and gloves. So I have taken some time to revisit shellac.

Oil finishes don't bother me as much, but they stink the house up very terribly which is also harmful to my health, for other reasons...I'm also trying to avoid metallic dryers, they're not great to breathe in.

I won't use anything with methanol in it, methanol Is pretty nasty stuff.

I can get a pretty good crossbreeze in the basement, so as long as it is not harmful the smell alone will not bother me.

[Patrick Chase]

Brian I'm surprised your not using fresh shellac. That stuff in a can I don't what's in it but it's nothing like fresh flakes.

It's easy enough to find out from their patents and other documentation: Shellac, Ethanol, Isopropanol, Methyl Isobutyl Ketone (MIBK), Water.

No methanol. It's actually pretty tame stuff as finishes go. Note that I'm not advocating that anybody should use it, just pointing out that it isn't any great mystery and isn't particularly toxic.

EDIT: Looks like they've eliminated the MIBK. Their current MSDS only lists Ethanol and Isoropanol (2-Propanol) as volatiles.

[Brian Holcombe]

Alright, off to a good start (IMO) on this humidor I'm building;

This was going to be a valet for my front hall, but I sort of goofed a bit with the dimensions, making in wayyyyy too tall. Going to hold a good number of cigars though...



Got the pores mostly filled in the top and on the front. The left yet is to be worked on.



I made a series of these boxes some years ago with nothing but machine tools, they're a heck of a lot easie with mostly hand tools. I may well post up the liners as I make them.

[Steve Voigt]

Looks great, Brian.
If you're still looking for info, you might want to check out Konrad Sauer's Instagram feed--he has a bunch of posts on french polishing (and plenty of plane porn).
If you like oil finishes but want to avoid metallic driers, you could check out the "tried and true" finishes--LV sells them. No personal experience; some people like them, others don't.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Steve, certainly a long ways to go before it's finished, but I feel I'm making some good headway and it wasn't all that time consuming like previous attempts.

Thanks for your suggestions as well, I will certainly look into them both. I've been wiping shellac onto low impact furniture pieces and I'm pretty happy with the result, it's great as a high build or low build finish and I presume it to be roughly on par with nitro lacquer for protection. For Anything that will see more wear and tear I will probably stick with Waterlox.