Question
I applied a coat of Transtint dye to my birdseye curly maple table top and then sanded to bare wood, applied another coat of a different color dye, and let those dry. I then applied a coat of linseed oil, gave that time to dry, applied a coat of sealcoat, and sanded that down till it was all dull without sheen. I topped it off with a few coats of amber bullseye. Every coat I put on, I'm getting witness lines that I need to sand back down, but each time I do, I'm sanding in some spots to bare wood. I can't get rid of the lines if I don't. I tried thinning the stuff because I know it has wax, but I don't know much about it. I've had to apply more dye to the spots that I am making by sanding to bare wood. All I want to do is get this stuff to enough coats where I can sand it even without going through the color so I can apply a coat of paste wax. I need help. I hate shellac.
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor R:
You don't mention how you are applying it. Shellac dries very fast. If you are brushing, you need a good brush such as ox hair and you have to work fast to lay down a wet coat without going back over it or tipping off.
I'm pretty sure the Bullseye is a 3lb cut, which is too heavy. I have found a 2lb works well for brushing and padding.
I would also recommend mixing your own. Zinsser claims a shelf life of 3 years, but I would not stake my work on it. Buy the flakes and mix just what you need.
A great way to apply it, particularly to a table top, is to pad it on. Unlike dewaxed, the waxy stuff sands easily so I'm not sure why you have to take it back to bare wood. I would recommend you mix a fresh two lb cut of the waxy shellac and pad it on (there are plenty of articles on the web on this subject).
