If my questions have already been answered elsewhere please forgive me though I did search.
I have finished assembly/glue up of a small pine cabinet. I sanded the surface working from 80 to 800 grit paper. I'd hoped to build a dark stain. I know pine can be blotchy and figured I'd try to condition it before staining. I'd tried miniwax pre-stain conditioner with success on another project but this time I wanted to try something new. I shellac'ed, using Zinnser Amber. Since this was my first time using shellac I thought I'd do my best to screw it up unintentionally to turn more hair gray. I read an article which recommended putting on two coats. I can't say how many I put on because the first application kept running and I kept going over the runs with my brush. I tried to even what I had on out with a rag dipped in denatured alchohol, which helped some but left me wondering if I had areas which were entirely uncovered. I brushed more shellac on because I was feeling crazy. It all dried and didn't look half bad but my guess is any uneveness will show up in the final finish. That's question number one:
- Will any uneven layers of a shellac topcoat produce an uneven looking stain/finish?
My fear is that no matter how hard I try I will produce an uneven coat of shellac though recent reading leads me to believe if I cut it next to nothing with alchohol and build several ultra thin layers I might have more luck.
Next, The cabinet is now what zinnser calls 'amber' and what I call 'orange'.
- Have I used too much shellac? Should I use clear instead?
Next, the stain. I'm using Olympic stain out of the can. I put on one coat, let it sit five to ten minutes and wiped it off. When I wiped it off it looked as though I didn't do anything at all.
- Does this stuff get darker or is this a joke perpetrated on my be Olympic where I spend my life savings and life buying and pretending to stain wood? There are some spots that will be hidden on the project and are not covered by shellac which took the stain like I would imagine stain should take. Have I blocked the stain from penetrating the wood with the amount of shellac I applied?
- I work in a dusty environment and accept this as a fact of my life. If I were a multi-billionaire I'd contract NASA to build and orbit a space station which had the best dust control imaginable but I'm a guy on a budget working in his garage that also happens to be used for all wood working, car parking, leaf parties, bug parties, etc. Am I asking for too much to get my wood darkened and not blotchy? Is there any way to speed up the staining process (thinning stain using mineral spirits, etc.) or have more control over it? Am I doomed to guys telling me I should just slather the piece in boiled linseed, teak or some other oil and living with it?
Oh yeah, and I'm sure some one will tell me to run out and buy Bob Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing" book so I'll stop you there. Read it cover to cover and I still (obviously) don't understand, so please don't use big words and do talk slowly so that maybe I'll get it this time.
My temptation is to take off everything on the piece with thinner (stain, if it's actually on) and alchohol for the shellac, thin the shellac, apply two or more very thin coats, then retry the stain. I have a feeling this might work or could get me back right where I am now. Any thoughts?