Which non-poly varnish for brushing over shellac?

[Andy Fox]

If I ever get it done, I'm going to be finishing a cherry cradle with boiled linseed oil followed by a two coats of dewaxed clear shellac (Zinser, padded on, cut to 1.5 pound). Through intuitive foresight, I know that someone in the future will attempt to clean the cradle with window cleaner (alcohol + ammonia), so I plan to finish it off with two coats of brushed, oil-base, non-polyurethane varnish for additional protection.

I assume non-polyurethane varnish will lose its scent after drying much sooner than polyurethane?

My only obvious choice so far is the Olympic varnish I saw in Lowe's. Is there a non-poly floor varnish? Does anyone have a favorite or any other recommendations?

[Steven Wilson]

2 coats of shellac? that's not many and you won't get much of a build (maybe two shellac sessions where you can apply 3-5 coats in a session). Anyhow, cured shellac is fairly impervious to infrequent exposure to alcohol. I really wouldn't worry about it getting hit with window cleaner now and then.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Steven, but if you want to use varnish, Pratt and Lamber #38, Sherwin Williams "Quick Dry" Varnish and Waterlox are nice examples of varnishes to consider. The first two are alkyds, but the P&L is soya oil based and will have less amber. The latter is a phenolic varnish with a tung oil base. All can be brushed or with thinning, wiped on.

[Howard Acheson]

>> I assume non-polyurethane varnish will lose its scent after drying much sooner than polyurethane?

Both products are oil based varnish and neither will lose its odor until it finishes curing. That's 3-4 weeks for either.

For the future, "polyurethane" or "poly" is really just a short name for polyurethane varnish. It's a standard oil based varnish that uses urethane for either part of all of its resin. All poly is varnish.

Babies are in cradles for a very short time and they rarely come into contact with the wood. I would just go with the shellac. If you need to renew it sometime in the future it only takes a few minutes.

[Jerry Olexa]

P&L #38 is my favorite. Have a new gallon waiting for my current cherry project.