OK - I got it, now what do I do with it?

[Kent A Bathurst]

After reading advice here re: garnet shellac on walnut, that's what I did. The lightest possible coating of BLO, followed by dewaxed garnet. Whoooa, buddy!! Now I'm looking kinda sideways at some other walnut things I did, but I don't have the energy to sand them down and refinish. I think.

So - I have a pound of garnet flakes from Homestead, less one quart mixed. What else looks good with garnet?

Before you start: one point - A+C house, some antique Stickley and others, some modern Stickleys and some gorgeous (if I do say so myself) repros - all of them the dark reddish-brown and QSWO. I don't see the garnet fitting into the next round of those. And, no - I can't get enough votes around here to produce any A+C stuff in a different color/look.

From where I am sitting, I can see QSWO, RO, Walnut, and a bunch of QS sycamore. Oh, and one big cherry board and some HM scraps. I don't know what is in that other pile over there. Slapped some garnet on scraps of naked sycamore and WO - didn't do anything for me, but those were just grabbed out of the pile with no other prep (through planer + jointer, not sanded/scraped/hand planed).

Whaddya think?

[Neal Clayton]

how bout a whole room?

useful tip: waterlox and other tung oil varnishes are *almost* the same color outta the can. so they make a very good topcoat. garnet shellac for color, then buff it without much regard to how it looks just trying to get it smooth, and topcoat with the varnish in a satin sheen and it gives you that old waxed shellac look without the wax.

since the garnet is so dark outta the can, it can get splotchy without the sealer especially on lighter softwoods, so stick with the blo first, imo.

the floor in the pics was done that way, that's what it looks like on yellow pine. oil sealer, garnet, satin waterlox for the top. two of each. 2 pound cut on the garnet.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Wow - very nice, Neal. On Yellow pine, no less - would not have entered my mind.

If you find a way to get your post to SWMBO, I will hunt you down...........

[Neal Clayton]

yea, i like it alot. at a glance, you have a uniform color throughout the room, as you walk close to various pieces and take a closer look, the distinct heartwood patterns in the grain are there, just more subtle behind the red shellac.

no other finishing method, that i know of, does that so well, so easily.

the trim in the above pictures isn't done yet, it has all of the shellac coats, but not the varnish on top yet. tomorrow i'll start buffing it all and then once the top coat is on, it should be a pretty spot on match with the floor.

i should note, too, that the floor is 102 years old, the trim was cut last summer. that's another great thing about colored shellacs. enough coats, and everything will have a uniform color, regardless of age, species, etc.

[Scott Holmes]

Nice work Neal.

Kent,

Garnet shellac flakes will keep for a very long time. I keep them in the fridg in the shop, cool and dry.

Garnet shellac has a few advantages over varnish...
It dries very fast; varnish, especially Waterlox, not so fast, approaching really slow.

It is very easy to repair; varnish, well let's just say there is a reason I use shellac burn-in sticks to fix varnish dings.

Shellac is color fast it will not yellow. Urethane resin and phenolic resin varnishes yellow a lot. Alkyd resin varnish yellows very little. This yellowing will also be depenent on which oil (Linseed, Tung, Soya) was used to make the varnish. Linseed oil yellows a lot; Tung oil not as much; Soya oil not at all.

I like garnet shellac on alder, cherry, walnut, maple and pine.

[Neal Clayton]

yea i was just talking about a top coat of waterlox scott, since it's very easy to get a good brushed finish that way, because they're so similar in color. just gotta buff the shellac smooth and use the waterlox as a top coat to even it.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Scott - thanks. I wasn't very clear - I have extra or ultra pale flakes and a qt mixed on hand all the time. I use shellac a lot. It was the color of the garnet that is new to me, looking for other species where it looks good.