Having trouble with shellac leaving streaks.

[Masonrygh]

Like the title says, I’m having trouble getting shellac to have a nice smooth finish on my pipe. Here are the ways that I could be doing it wrong:

1) cheap brush

2) not enough alcohol (currently cutting the shellac 50/50 with dna)

3) too heavy of a coat

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Do any of you have suggestions for using shellac? I’ve been tearing apart the forum and it’s been so extremely helpful, but I’m still not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’ve coated 10 pipes so far this way and all of them have come out the same, and I feel like I’ve hit a bit of a road block. Before I in ruin the finish of another pipe, I figured that I would supplicate before the old guard in hopes of absorbing your wisdom.

[RickB]

Way too thick a coat and way too thick a cut. I'd honestly dilute what you're using to about 25% in more DNA. I've never had much luck with the "wipe it on fast and then wipe it off" method unless it's very diluted, putting it on very very thinly seems to give a bit more wiggle room before it gets tacky and sticks to whatever you're wiping it off with. Afterwards, lightly hitting it with some micromesh pads or a very light touch on the buffer with the finest compound I've got (as needed) seems to work pretty well though.

[UnderShade]

Spray shellac works really well. Spray on, wipe off x2, then buff.

[Flygare]

I use a lighter blend, 1/4 flakes in alkohol. Then just a pice of cotton cloth to apply i one very, very thin layer.

Followed by buffing with tripoli, white diamond and last carnauba wax.

/Henrik


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[KurtHuhn]

I took a lesson from a respected pipe maker many years ago and use the spray can method. Zinsser blonde rattle can shellac. Spray on, count to ten, wipe off. Maybe do that twice.

Remember that shellac is not "the finish". It's just one step in the finishing process. What it's supposed to do is help set everything and provide a consistent base (assuming you sanded correctly) for the next finishing steps.

[Sasquatch]

Never had any luck with premixed or spray, I make a weak cut, probably 1 pound cut, in a medicine dropper bottle. Apply with a tiny piece of rag, sometimes repeat in a few hours, then buff as per flygare.

[KurtHuhn]

I used to do something similar - works great. I just happened to have some spray on hand once and thought "let's see what happens". Most everything I do is born of "let's see what happens". I like to think it's a slightly more erudite version of "hold my beer"

[wdteipen]

look up videos on French polishing guitars. Very helpful.

[Masonrygh]

I’ll experiment with all of the techniques you guys have mentioned! Thanks for the advice!

[caskwith]

Premixed for me cut 50 50 with alcohol. I use a large brush and flood the pipe, give it a few seconds in summer, maybe 10 or more in winter and then wipe it off. If I get streaks I put on another coat and wipe off immediately.

[Leus]

Thin, well diluted layer, apply with a brush (no matter if it's a cheap one) and then *wipe it away*. This is important.

As Kurt said, the thing is that shellac is not *the* finish. It's most like a sealer, except that the lore says it breaths (how, it beats me). Buffing and carnauba wax is the real finish.

[Sasquatch]

How does shellac "breath"? How does briar "breath"? Two separate questions, but obviously they relate on a pipe.

Finishes breath (or not in some cases) by being vapor-permeable. So in the case of shellac, if you spill a drop of water on a shellaced surface it will bead up, but if you put that hot pizza box on top of the table, it will leave a big white square, the vapor having permeated the finish. You can look up charts of this kind of permeability - it's well known stuff in the wood working world, which is why a lot of fresh cut lumber is dipped in things like PEG, because it is cheap, easy, and vastly slows down the ability for the wood to dump moisture into the air. Shellac is middle-of-the-pack at best, it offers some vapor permeability, but like wax, it's capable of letting vapor through. Things like polymerized tung oil are much better at vapor sealing (so might be a less good finish on a pipe).

Why do we care, if we do? You see lots of "What's this big blister on my new smooth pipe?" posts on forums and facebook. That blister is the hard finish (acrylic or poly) coming off the pipe because the pipe is pushing out moisture under the finish. Briar is sitting at whatever the ambient humidity of your house is, your pipe is literally full of water, as any piece of wood around you is, unless you live in the desert. You heat the up and the water wants out - the pipe will try to push the water in the wood to the outside, the heat literally boiling it out of the wood, each and every time you smoke. So a permeable finish is probably desirable.

[Masonrygh]

Thanks Sasquatch, that was a great analogy. I’ll keep trying

[Blackbeltpipes]

Spray shellac works really well. Spray on, wipe off x2, then buff.

What do you buff with UnderShade?


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[UnderShade]

Spray shellac works really well. Spray on, wipe off x2, then buff.

What do you buff with UnderShade?


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I use Beall muslin 8" wheels. Tripoli, white diamond and carnauba wax. Though, I haven't been using shellac or wax on my last few pipes and still get a GREAT shine. I'm gonna try using wax and then a clean wheel on the recommendation of a friend who is a professional maker.