Shellac Pine Flooring

Shellac finishes were common on wood floors until urethanes became more widely accepted.

Shellac pine flooring.

Shellac prepares the dyed surface for glazing step 4. However shellac is about as natural as it gets for a wood flooring finish. You can brush on wipe on with a rag or spray on. Shellac is easy to apply and with just a little practice you can get professional looking results quickly and easily.

As manufacturing and railroads made paints and coatings more available after 1860 varnish shellac and other clear hard finishes became popular for woodwork. Shellac is a versatile non toxic wood finish that enhances the natural grain while adding smoothness without the plastic like qualities of polyurethane or lacquer. Apply it with a natural bristle brush or with a cotton rag. Some shellac manufacturers recommend using it as a protective coat on non wood items.

In the north tight grained old growth eastern white pine is still going strong in many homes. This knowledge is equal parts gross and fascinating to me. But notice that the first three situations are all refinishing problems not new wood problems and the last is rare for professional finishers. It also keeps pitch sealed in the wood.

Shellac also blocks the resin from pine knots and very oily exotic woods which can slow the drying of lacquer and varnish significantly. Shellac can appear glossier than varnish but requires several coats to achieve that high shine finish. Unlike synthetic urethanes shellac is a natural resin that is derived from the lac beetle and diluted with. Varnish and shellac are two of the most commonly used pine wood finishes on the market today.

Varnish is typically heavier than shellac and will usually require only one maybe two coats to finish. It also comes in solid form or in flakes that must be dissolved and it has a shorter shelf life than other finishes. The resin is scraped from trees and then diluted or processed in denatured alcohol when used for flooring purposes. Shellac is a beautiful finish over every kind of wood imaginable including oak pine cherry mahogany birch chestnut maple as well as exotic and tropical woods such as ipe cocobolo australian cypress and many others.

Without shellac pine s pitch can bleed into oil based finishes leaving fissures or shiny spots that remain tacky especially around knots. Shellac is available in most home centers as a liquid in a can.