[Sonny]

Hi there, I recently got my speakers, once painted red/black, veneered in rosewood and stained!  It looks great, but the Shellac finish on it is not consistent.  I was wondering if anyone in the group has experience finishing veneer and would be willing to help me to refinish them....

Here are some picture of before and after.  Note that you won't be able to see the finish unless you're up close.

Thanks in advance!

[Cacophonix]

What do you mean by inconsistent? Is it too thick at some place and thin at others? I used shellac on my most recent speakers, and it is a very easy finish to work with. You can always touchup by just applying it again on top. The top coat dissolves the layer underneath, and thus very easy to fix any errors.
I had bad results with brush... so i just made a cotton pad, and rubbed in the shellac (kinda like french polishing). I got pretty good consistent results.

[Sonny]

What do you mean by inconsistent? Is it too thick at some place and thin at others? I used shellac on my most recent speakers, and it is a very easy finish to work with. You can always touchup by just applying it again on top. The top coat dissolves the layer underneath, and thus very easy to fix any errors.
I had bad results with brush... so i just made a cotton pad, and rubbed in the shellac (kinda like french polishing). I got pretty good consistent results.

Thanks for the advice...  I've tried touching it up and it seems every time i do, it gets worse.  The problem is that there are places where you see drips / runs of the shellac, others have the brush marks, especially on the bottom cabinets where the diagonal piece runs on the main sides.  I tried doing the "french" polishing, but i guess, I can am unable to get it done.

Thanks

[dyohn]

Who did the veneer work?  After such an extensive job (and looks like they did great work) I am surprised they didn't pay equal attention to the varnish job.  Get whoever did the veneer work to fix the finish!

[Sonny]

Who did the veneer work?  After such an extensive job (and looks like they did great work) I am surprised they didn't pay equal attention to the varnish job.  Get whoever did the veneer work to fix the finish!

Well, they are in San Diego and I am in SF...
I can get them to fix it, but at this point of unemployment, I don't have the money to ship it back down there or drive down.  I would take them over a couple of weeks as they have a day time job. 

So, i'd like to try and fix it, but have been unable to.

Thanks

[Christof]

What type of shellac have you been using?  Did they come from SD finished or raw?  If finished in SD before you applied shellac what finish did they apply?

[Sonny]

been using the clear shellac, the Yessin brand

[Cacophonix]

That is kinda strange ... even if there are brush marks, you should have been able to fix it by apply shellac again over it. Unless you've applied some finish on top.
Shellac will dissolve in denatured alcohol that you can buy from any HD or lowes. You can try rubbing alcohol on the spots where you see drips or brush marks. After that you can apply shellac to get an even finish.

[Christof]

been using the clear shellac, the Yessin brand

Yessin?

I'd grab a flat wood block maybe 4" x 4" x 1" and spraymount a piece of 1/8" cork to the bottom...cheap cork like Ikea place mats or something from the dollar store, just to soften the bottom of your flat block.  Then wrap a few layers of soft cotton cloth rags under the cork.  Using alcoho,l erase the bad spots.  Then throw a piece of 320 grit paper on the same block and lightly sand the finish.  Tack it free of dust and apply something besides shellac.  If you used dewaxed shellac anything will stick to it.  If the shellac (Yessin) has wax in it you should read this article.  Shellac is tough to apply by hand especially after you start to get a build.