What kind of wood pops the grain when it is coate with clear shellac?

[BadBob]

I have been experimenting with dipping in clear shellac for random pieces of wood. For some of it, you can't tell it does much at all except that the surface is smooth, while there is a big change for others.

In your experience what type of wood looks really good with a clear shellac finish?

[Millwab]

Bob, others may have different experiences but it would help to know what woods you have tried and what sheen your shellac is (eg. gloss, satin).  You probably won't get the same effect as you would with an oil based finish, but  I would guess that you would see more pop with darker woods like cherry or walnut.

[dgman]

Bob, I don’t use shellac, but most hardwoods pop with an oil finish. So, I use only hardwoods. Then I will soak my projects in a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits. After dry, usually in 24 hours, I topcoat with semigloss spray lacquer.

The woods i usually use are Cherry, Maple, Walnut, Red Oak, Mahogany and Sapele. I will also use other hardwoods like redheart, Purple Heart, Aspen and what ever looks good.

[BadBob]

8 hours ago, Millwab said:

Bob, others may have different experiences but it would help to know what woods you have tried and what sheen your shellac is (eg. gloss, satin). 

I have never seen satin shellac.

[BadBob]

8 hours ago, dgman said:

most hardwoods pop with an oil finish

I don't use an oil finish, especially not boiled linseed oil. It smells and takes weeks to cure, and then there is the spontaneous combustion issue.

[BadBob]

Restating my question differently: What wood looks good and enhances the grain with clear shellac?

What started this was yesterday I dipped some ornaments in clear shellac. I had a few pieces made from what I think is spruce. It looks like spruce and smells like spruce. The change in the spruce ornament was dramatic.

I don't care about other finishes. I have been down that road and used some of everything at one time or another. I use a wax and mineral oil blend I make, shellac, and occasionally old-school polyurethane.

I use all sorts of wood, mostly domestic hardwoods, but occasionally, some odd ones pop up. I got some IPE decking boards recently. I savage hardwoods from discarded furniture. I don't always know what the wood is.

[TAIrving]

1 hour ago, BadBob said:

I savage hardwoods from discarded furniture. 

Noel @BadBob.  "Savage" vs "Salvage".  

I know I promised to stop doing this and will try harder.  But sometimes I just can't do what I said I would.  

[BadBob]

5 hours ago, TAIrving said:

"Savage" vs "Salvage". 

I use a grammar/spell checker, and it auto-corrects when I mistype, which is a lot.

 

[dgman]

9 hours ago, BadBob said:

I don't use an oil finish, especially not boiled linseed oil. It smells and takes weeks to cure, and then there is the spontaneous combustion issue.

Just to clarify, the 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits dries in 24 hours. The mineral spirits thins the oil and dries the oil in 24 hours. Undiluted boiled linseed oil will take days to dry and cure.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Bob, you ask a tough question that opens alot more questions to be able to answer properly. But first lets start with your method. Dipping of shellac is a tough way to apply this finish. What type shellac are you using? do you top coat the items after with something else? All woods will "POP" or at least change appearance because you are sealing the grain with a foreign liquid and this liquid becomes solid and adheres to the grain of the wood. Now depending on the type of shellac you are using will depend on the color. Clear dewaxed shellac will give you the lightest of color change. If you mix your own shellac you can control the yellow or other colors added to the mix. Shellac will flash over real quick and dry and could leave drip marks if dipping. You can get a satin look with shellac by applying less coats and doing lighter coats. Not dipping because you are flooding the grain then. other woods different because they are different colored wood naturally. It is a matter of choice. Some woods of the same species can look different because of where they were harvested, when they were harvested and how they grew. Some are more open grained and some are more closed grain because of amount of sunlight as they grew. And they can be growing right next to each other. All woods look better with some sort of finish rather than being dry and no finish. You can always control the look by what finish you use. 

[Bill WIlson]

I think where you will notice the most dramatic effect is on darker woods.  The grain of walnut, cherry, mahogany, etc will all "pop" much more with most solvent based finishes (such as lacquer, varnish/poly, straight oil and shellac) vs waterborne finishes.  

As for shellac specifically, unless you get some super blonde flakes to mix your own, most shellac, even the Zinsser clear pre-mix, will impart an amber tint to wood that is most noticeable on the dark woods mentioned above.  It will be negligible on lighter colored woods like maple, pine/spruce, poplar, etc.  As was already mentioned, you can get darker shades of shellac.  Zinsser pre-mix comes in amber, which is much darker than the clear.  If you buy flakes, you can get a whole host of shades, depending on the level of refinement.

[rafairchild2]

I love how Black walnut finishes.  Just yummy goodness!

Add to that list: canary wood and cherry.

[Wichman]

You may find some answers at https://www.chatometry.com/.

The website talks about the reflective sheen of various woods and which species has more or less. This is problably why some pieces of wood "pop" and other pieces from the same species don't "pop".

 

[TAIrving]

14 hours ago, Wichman said:

You may find some answers at https://www.chatometry.com/.

The website talks about the reflective sheen of various woods and which species has more or less. This is problably why some pieces of wood "pop" and other pieces from the same species don't "pop".

 

Thanks Wichita @Wichman, interesting website.  I will have to spend some time reading up on the different woods and effects.

Thurman