jOne last finishing question for my bed

[Mike in Arkansas]

Barry and all have provided great info about finishing my red oak craftsman style bed. I have one small area of confusion remaining. . I'm going to stain with an Olympic brand oil based stain and final finish will be with coats of wiped on Waterlox Original. In previous informational posts mention is made of sealing the stain coat with a 1 or 2 pound cut shellac Do I need or want to do this with the combination of finishing products I have selected? Would anything be gained by using it even if not necessary. Would it improve the end products appearance? Thanks again to all who have assisted with their valuable time. Happy Holidays to all. Mike in Arkansas

[George]

Oil finish over oil stain will move it around a bit, thus the seal coat with shellac. You're using a low- solids finish, so you'll appreciate the way the seal coat cuts down on pigment movement.

[Mike in Arkansas]

Thanks George, I can understand wanting to prevent interaction with the stain. Perhaps I'm mistaken but I thought that part of the advangtage of an oil finish was that it penatrates the wood. If shellac is used to seal will the finish coats just sit on top of the shellac? Mike in Arkansas

[George]

Somewhat. The shellac is pretty thin at a 1# cut, so it doesn't form a continuous film. It also uses (polar) alcohol as a solvent, so it'll get sucked into the fibers where water binds, rather than between the fibers like nonpolar oil or thinner. You'll notice that there will be some mild grain raising with the alcohol to confirm this. Knock it down with 320 or

400 and tack off prior to oil.