My source for Walnut Oil

[kiwigeo]

This is getting a bit long and boring isn’t it?

Definitely not.....I appreciate the time youre taking to explain your methods.

[Kim]

This is getting a bit long and boring isn’t it?

Hardly...this is forum gold Rob. When your done I will be moving this topic into the tutorials section..as we say, straight into the pool room...

Cheers

Kim

[auscab]

Thanks Martin and Kim,

"straight into the pool room... "

Thanks

I hope it helps and takes a bit of the mystery out of it, for any one new at it.
I did read through it again the other day and thought it needed a little edit in one or two places, I can just tack on corrections at the end . And I’m on holiday for a few weeks ,so it will be a little while before I can add more.
I think it would be good to add the pictures of the shellac mix
This explanation of bodying is about how to get as much on a large area [ big table ] as possible and cut back as hard as possible.
I should point out the differences between this and doing a guitar.

[Nick]

Tweety was just a way of seeing the reflection that I was trying out.
the lights were better.

Is this a form of gloss measurement used in the trade Rob?
The four levels of finish:
1.A fuzzy reflection is a satin.
2.A close reflection to tweety is a semi gloss.
3.An exact reflection is a gloss.
4.Where you can see the pimple on Tweety's arse is considered a "super gloss" and requires years of experience in the trade to achieve.

[P Bill]

One of the big differences polishing furniture and instruments is that by the time you give one coat to a table, dresser or chair, it's dry enough where you started to do a second coat. With instruments I have to force myself to wait.

[auscab]

Tweety was just a way of seeing the reflection that I was trying out.
the lights were better.

Is this a form of gloss measurement used in the trade Rob?

4.Where you can see the pimple on Tweety's arse is considered a "super gloss" and requires years of experience in the trade to achieve.

It could be a new form of gloss measurement Nick, but if we were going to try to spot a pimple on a birds arse I think there may be better arses to do it with.

[auscab]

One of the big differences polishing furniture and instruments is that by the time you give one coat to a table, dresser or chair, it's dry enough where you started to do a second coat. With instruments I have to force myself to wait.

One way of applying coats of shellac on is with a brush , another way is with a wad of cheesecloth, it works like having a 100mm wide brush, good for large areas, Ive tried it, and like it for doing colour adjustments within layers. I usually just use a rag,
It is a big job method though. If it’s really big, at times I can be seen using the broom that is used to sweep the floor, nice big 600mm wide coats of water colour.
Like you say Bill if the job is big enough you can go back to the start and give it another go . With the rubber you can keep working the whole thing non stop in one session, well say the back and sides and most of the neck in one go, then lay it face down ,and ”wait “ till the next day to turn it over for a go at the top.

[auscab]

I've been using Paraffin Oil as advised by Neil Ellis in "The Polisher's Handbook".
I got it from a vet supply shop.
Neil says that it does't get trapped in the shellac...?

Hi Craig,
I got carried away back there and missed this.
I did read on WWF once about Paraffin oil and gave it a go, I can’t remember now but I was not used to the feel of it I think, I just tried it once and left it. I’ve never had a problem trapping oil so why change. I’m sure I have trapped oil a few times and had to fix it, and I’ve had to repair other peoples work with an oil problem, and assumed it was always linseed oil.
If Paraffin oil has been used it and never had a crazing problem that’s good, if you have crazing and you have mixed your own shellac from flakes or button [ not used pre mixed] it’s oil .
I don’t believe it’s possible to see crazing happen because a thin coat gets put over the top of another thicker coat that has not cured yet.

[auscab]

The Shellac Mix, from te bottom picture up.

The bottom two. the jar on the right is how I normaly mix for sorage in the bottle on the bench, I just cover the flake with metho, I took this picture a few minutes after the metho had been poured in so the flake had already started to swell, bu straight off it would have shown a few mm of metho over the top.

The jar on the right is 25 g flake to 100 ml metho and if my calculations are right its close to a 4lb cut

The jar on the left is 25 g shellac to 200 ml metho = close to 2lb cut

I was bodying the table job up with 2lb cut to 3 lb cut

For finishig off the much thinner mix is around what I have mixed in the other jar
200ml metho with 60 ml of the 2lb cut mixed in. 60 ml is two of those little cups.

Even thinner 30 ml to200 ml was used as well.