vals38•5mo ago

My kitchen table project taught me a lesson about old shellac

I picked up a solid oak table from a garage sale for $40, thinking it just needed a light sand and a new coat of finish. The old finish was that classic orange shellac look. I figured I could just put a water-based poly right over it after a quick scuff sand. Big mistake. About two days after I put the first coat on, the whole thing started to get these weird cloudy patches and wrinkles. It looked awful. I had to strip the whole top down to bare wood, which took me a whole weekend. I learned that old shellac can react badly with some modern finishes, especially if it's not fully sealed. Now I always do a test spot on a hidden area with any new finish over an old one. Has anyone else had a finish react like this with shellac?

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3 Comments

ray_king5mo ago

Heard shellac can turn milky with water based stuff.

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grantl944mo ago

1920s French polish recipes actually used a bit of ammonia to stop that.

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luna_green5mo ago

Absolutely, that's a classic shellac problem. I had it happen on a table I was fixing up, put a damp glass down and left a permanent white ring. From what I've read, the water gets trapped under the finish and scatters the light. You can sometimes fix it by applying more shellac or a bit of alcohol, but it's a real pain.

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