Using Shellac as a Finish Paint

Shellac comes in clear for wood finishing or as a pigmented white primer.

The clear shellac makes a base for a lighted tinted shading "varnish" or for a more heavily tinted deep tone shellac "paint".

The white pigmented primer can be used as a base for a flat shellac paint, or mixed with clear shellac to raise the sheen, a satin or semi gloss shellac paint.

Shellac "paint" can be used on small craft-type items, or on wood trim as an enamel. Essentially, anywhere that clear shellac or shellac primer can be used, shellac paint can be also.

Lacquers are nice finishes in that they dry fast, spray nicely and rub out to a smooth polished finish. The BIG downside to lacquer is the STRONG solvent odor, and the fact that you can't roll or brush them.

Shellac. while not related to lacquer (despite sharing the "lac" spelling, they are very different resins) is very similar to lacquer in terms of it being quick drying, easy spraying with good rubbing out properties.

Shellac as a tinted finish paint

One of the “secrets” of shellac is that it can be tinted and used as a finish coat. Most are familiar with clear shellac used with wood working. Many are familiar with shellac primer, but for some reason , tinted shellac as a finish paint is over looked.

The famous “BIN” primer actually started out as a finish enamel paint. The letters “B - I -N” stood for “Bulls I Namel”, and though it may have been a different sheen (gloss) than the present day flat primer, it was used as a finish shellac enamel paint.

Tinting shellac

There are a couple of ways to make a shellac finish paint.

Dark colors / Clean colors

1. You can simply add universal colorants to clear shellac to create a dark or clean color. Use up to 6 oz per gallon of universal tint to color the shellac. Universal tints usually require a lot of mixing to disperse well in shellac. A mechanical shaker works best, and double or triple the normal shake time. Using clear shellac as a base will allow for deep tints, but it will take several coats for good hiding and coverage.

Pastel colors

2a. You can tint shellac primer and mix it with clear shellac in various proportions. You can tint shellac primer with up to 2 oz of universal tint per gallon to create pastel colors. The gloss level can be modified by adding clear shellac to the flat shellac primer to produce a semi-gloss or satin sheen.

2b. You can tint clear shellac with up to 6 oz universal colorants (as in method 1) and then mix with white shellac primer to lighten the deep tinted clear to a pastel tint. Mix from one part shellac primer to nine parts clear shellac to nine parts shellac primer to one part clear shellac for the lightest pastel tints.

Fast dry

Shellac dries fast, it can be recoated in about 30 - 60 minutes. This allows for multiple coats and good film build - in one day’s painting.. Good film build is important when you are rubbing down (and out) a finish. Too thin a coating will easily be rubbed through..

Good leveling

Shellac has good leveling qualities which makes it good as a primer under enamel, and as a smooth enamel in and of itself. A smoother finish to start with will require less rubbing out in the end.

Rolling shellac

Even when applied with a roller, shellac will level out to a smooth finish. The short napped or dense foam roller covers will lay down the smoothest finish. A short napped 3/16ths mohair cover works well. A mini roller dense foam cover will do so too without any risk of roller lint coming off into the finish..

Spraying shellac

Spraying is of course the smoothest method of application. Shellac sprays very well with an HVLP sprayer, requiring no thinning as a rule. If your HVLP is on the lower end of the performance scale, you may need to add a little denatured alcohol to aid in fine spray application. Be sure to run the shellac through a strainer as you pour it into the paint cup.

Brushing shellac

You need to work quickly when brushing shellac. Don’t go back and re-brush or re-work areas, as that will result in brush marks. If you re-coat too quickly, the new coat will set up very quickly, resulting in brush marks too.

Use a finely flagged synthetic bristle brushes for shellac. Latex brushes are synthetic bristle brushes made from nylon or polyester or a mix of the two.

Shellac will clean up with ammonia and water. Pour a little bit of ammonia into a clean pail and add water (about one part ammonia a to three parts water mix). Clean the brush in the ammonia/water mix and then rinse under the tap with fresh clean water. You can use natural china bristle brushes for shellac, but you won’t be able to clean them out with ammonia and water (without ruining the bristles of the brush).

Base / clear system

If you want, you can tint shellac primer to a flat, pastel color to get most of your “hide”, then switch to a clear shellac for the last couple of coats to finish. A draw back to a base clear is the ambering effect of shellac. Once clear coated, the color may take on a different hue than it appeared before clear coating. You could use a waterbased clear coat instead, but then you would lose the good rubbing out capability.

You don’t have to rub out the finish

If you have done a good application job and are not looking for a highly polished sheen, rubbing out may not be a requirement for your needs. As a rule, you can apply two or three coats, level with 220 sandpaper (remove sanding dust) and then finish off with one carefully applied finish coat. This method should yield a very good finish where the need for an extremely fine highly polished finish is not necessary.

Finishing with paste wax

For a less polished yet smoother than average finish, you can use a paste wax just as a wood finisher would, as a final finish over your rubbed out shellac. This method requires less overall work than a highly polished gloss finish does. With this method you would rub the shellac smooth with 400 grit sandpaper and then finish with paste wax with a final buffing using a soft cotton rag.

Buffing shellac to a highly polished gloss

You will need to wait for the shellac paint to fully cure before rubbing out to a high gloss. Start with fine sandpaper 400 grit and work toward finer 1000 grit, then change over to auto rubbing compounds to finish off the rub out.

Good rubbing out properties

The fact that shellac rubs out nicely is not a secret to wood finishers who buff out the finish when used as a clear coat over wood stain.

Each coat of shellac (like lacquer) melts into the previous coat forming one homogenous film of finish. The problem with some finishes is that each coat of finish is a separate “layer” which, if rubbed through during the rub out process, will leave a crater-like void with a noticeable border surrounding the void. This type of layering does not occur with shellac, and combined with its good polishing capabilities (French polish used on expensive musical instruments is - shellac), makes shellac an excellent finish for rubbing out

Tinted Shellac: A User Friendly "Lacquer"

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