Walnut Shellac Question

[Aaron Cain]

Hey Guys,
I realize that I ask a lot of questions but I am pretty new at this. I wanted to use a more durable top coat over a "Waxed" Garnet Shellac over my Walnut Tables that I am constructing. My questions are.

-Is Shellac durrable enough for tables by itself?
-I here urethane will not adhere well to shellac. What about a wiping oil/varnish like Watco Danish oil or Fromby's.
-Could I use Sam Maloofs?
Could I place a clear dewaxed shellac over the garnet then use urethane ?

Thanks
Aaron

[Steve Schoene]

The question of durability is very subjective. I have a several tables where the top is finished in shellac. I have on occasion, where I expected wet or warm items to stay on them used varnish for a top coat.

No need to use a polyurethane finish on furniture. The chief advantage of poly is that it stands up to severe abrasion a little better--that's only really needed for floors.

You can not use an oil/varnish mix such as Watco or the Maloof finish over shellac or other sealed surface. Oil/varnish is only intended for use on bare wood where it can be wiped off the surface.

Formby's Tung Oil Finish could be used--that's because it is not an oil/varnish mix, let alone Tung Oil. It is a wiping varnish, and can be allowed to form a film on the surface. You can use other wiping varnishes, such as Waterlox, Satin, Original/Sealer or Gloss. Or, you can thin other traditional resin varnishes to wiping varnish consistency.

[Aaron Cain]

That is great information!

Would an outdoor UV inhibiting natural stain or top coat limit how much the walnut would lighten over the years. This is a x-mas gift I am making for my wife and she absolutely loves walnut but she has no clue that it lightens over the years.

Thanks again
Aaron

[Steve Schoene]

You can subtly use a pigmented stain (without dye) on walnut that will tend to slow the color change, or essentially mask it by leaving a portion of the surface coloring that doesn't change while the background does. Walnut's color change doesn't leave it looking bad, nor is it dramatically rapid unless it gets a lot of pretty direct sunlight. (If you have double pane windows, and especially if you have low-e windows the color change will be quite gradual.) The stain doesn't have to be very dark or obscure the wood very much and there is no particular benefit in choosing a stain that it be tailored for exterior use--its suitability for this stems from having pigments, which for these color ranges are almost all quite light stable.

UV inhibiting clear finishes of any merit are spar varnishes. Unfortunately, spar varnishes have the characteristic that they are quite flexible. (Yachts are very subject to flexing and so finishes for the wood on them must also be flexible for that reason and to handle the very wide temperature and humidity changes that boats experience.) That makes them soft and not at all well suited for furniture.

[Steven Wilson]

-Is Shellac durrable enough for tables by itself?
Yes, it's a classic finish that has been used on fine furniture for a very long time.

-I here urethane will not adhere well to shellac. What about a wiping oil/varnish like Watco Danish oil or Fromby's.
Oil over shellac????? Why try? Do you want a film finish or an oil finish? If you want oil, use oil and skip the shellac. If you want a film finish use shellac, lacquer, or poly

-Could I use Sam Maloofs?
Why?

Could I place a clear dewaxed shellac over the garnet then use urethane ?
Yep, you'll need a couple of coats of dewaxed shellac. Dewaxed orange looks pretty good on walnut. Personally I like to apply a seal coat of 1-1.5lb cut orange on walnut, then use a dark brown filler (oil based) and then finish with a couple of coats of orange shellac.

[Aaron Cain]

I guess what I am trying to accomplish is to build a table that will last a life time while working with materials that I have in my shop. I have an alked based natural outdoor stain that contains Linseed oil along with UV inhibitors. I really want to keep the wood color as natural as possible with out adding stain pigments. It looks like reguardless what I will do the tables will eventually lighten. The UV inhibitor may prolong the look of the dark walnut untill it breaks down over time. I also thought the garnet shellac would have added to the darkened look. I do like the color of walnut weather it is light or dark....but I just happen to like the dark better.

Thanks
Aaron