Thursday, April 28, 2005

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

So, who wants to see pictures of my wood work

 









 I've been slaving away at this for months now and there is just so much of it. All of this has been done with shellac, gallons and gallons of the stuff. Just inhaling all the alcohol fumes has cost me many brain cells I'm sure! The stair risers, that isn't black paint. That is aniline dye stain and shellac over top. The amber color wood is the result of using a paint color wash to make the wood a uniform color instead of allowing it to end up blotchy from hard to remove 1840s paint. New wood would look this color if no stain was used. It is very "Beidermeier" which is what I wanted. The new wood floor is red oak with golden oak Minwax stain and three coats of shellac. It is getting two coats of thinned down polyurethane as I type this to help prevent the shellac from scratching since there is still work to do on the 2nd floor. The living room, that is shellac over natural wood. No stain is being used. Some white paint spots in dents were dotted with some brown paint to obscure them though! I have done much wood stripping in the past but have never considered using shellac before. The stuff is W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L (and I'm not saying that because I have inhaled a whole lot of fumes either.) It gives the wood a certain translucent depth that you cannot get with stain and polyurethane. Each coat drys in about an hour and you have to work fast to avoid lap marks but you can get 3 to 5 coats done in a day and sand between coats! I think everyone should use the stuff, even if you put some polyurethane over it.

7 comments:

Kasmira said...

Gary,
The wood is gorgeous! Your hard work has definitely paid off. The stairs turned out great. I like the dark risers.

Kasmira

Anonymous said...

Gary,
I just want to say good job on the woodwork! When I checked out your site I was pleased to see your house being restored. I saw your house about 2 yrs ago and was hoping someone would save it. I was visiting my relatives who live in Dayton,Xenia,Cedarville and we drove around Dayton looking at old homes. So I look forward to seeing your progress on restoring your house to its former glory.
Bob

Anonymous said...

Gary,

Your wood is beautiful - nice job! I can't imagine the hours you've spent on it already, but once you're done at least it's a job that'll last a lifetime.

I'm a fan of the dark risers as well, and love the approach you took.

~Mindy

K said...

Awesome, beautiful, fantastic!

Greg said...

Great work. I too love shellac. It is THE best kept secret. Have you ever been to shellac.net

Gary said...

I still have to make the very tip of the volute and insert a few railings but the bulk of the work is over for this "room." Then there is the replacement window molding in the living room of course for the previously boarded up window and then there's the ..blah..blah..blah.

I did order the customery 5 lbs. of shellac from shellac.net and used it all up! I then found that the Zinsser Bullseye was very similar in colour to most of it, easier and quicker to obtain when I ran out and cheaper in the long run since I didn't have to spend lots of time filtering out the bug and bark bits! They stock it at Home Depot. I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of the aniline dye....

Jocelyn said...

Looks great! I can relate to the brain cell comment- what is scary is that I actually kind of like the fumes that come from my heat gun removing paint- I don't know if it's because I associate it subconsciously with the results and beautiful exposed woodwork OR because I have a problem ;o)

On a more serious note, I did have my lead levels tested a few times over the past few years and doctor says they are "normal."