Shellac finising question

[Rich]

I know shellac can be applied under varnish if its dewaxed, but I wonder can anyone tell me how much? I've been working on a rather large project that will take four or five coats of brush on varnish then 3 or 4 coats of wiping varnish before I get what I want. I was wondering if I could spray or brush on shellac instead of the brushed coats of varnish. say 1 or 2 coats of 1lb cut followed by a few coats of 2-3lb cut, finally after it dries good, do a few coats of wiping varnish for durability and the sheen I'm looking for. Am I way off base here, or will this work? I don't want to cut corners, but it sure would be alot faster and less susceptable to dust contamination. Thanks in advance.

[SonomaProducts.com]

You can surely put a few coats of shellac under the "varnish" (varnish is a very broad term and can mean lots of various things). I am wondering what type of look or performance you are after? This sounds like a lot of film finish and depending on the wood and the sanding and polishing steps, you will have a very flat (flat in terms of feel not sheen) plastic like finish when you are done.

What are you trying to accomplish?

Also, typically with both lacquer and shellac you'll use a thinner mix first and a thicker mix later and maybe a super thinned coat at the end if you need to do some major falttening and just want to spray thinner mostly. You describe the opposite with the shellac. I am wondering why?

BW

Rich wrote:

[B A R R Y]

Yes.

An excellent reason to do it.