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Hi everyone
I am coming close on a Ziricote model to the stage of finishing. My father and I have planned upon using shellac as a filler for the pores on the ziricote, and on the mahogany neck. We have tossed around the idea of mixing shellac and spraying it through one of our spray guns - however we have never exactly seen this method in any books or heard of it in any manner. We're planning on filling with shellac, then doing our actual finishing with glossy nitrocellulose laquer. If anyone has any information on spraying shellac - I have some experience with shellac, not tons - or experience with the nitrocellulose that they'd be willing to share I'd greatly appreciate it.

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Jake Archer
~~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~~

Shellac sprays jsut fine. A two pound cut works well in my spray gun.

Shellac works well as an undercoat for Nitro. No problems.

Mark

Unless you're willing to go with a full french polish where you load, clear and fill with pumice powder you'll have a hard time getting enough build to do any filling. I personally prefer to apply several good bodying coats with the pad and follow up after a few minutes drying time with just alcohol on the pad which will level the swirls, etc. After I get some finish built up (several days later) I use the pad with alcohol only and a little pumice powder dusted ahead of the pad but don't use too much or it will get rough and gritty. This takes a while though and quite a few sessions of hard work. It takes me a good two to three weeks to fill mahogany or rosewood this way. Its alot of work. I would consider filling with egg whites before trying the shellac. Z poxy will work too just check the archives there's a lot of info on this stuff.

Nitro will work fine over shellac as I have found out on this forum...thanks guys.

By the way, shooting shellac with a gun isn't a really big deal other than it likes to run since its thinner. Lay the body down on newspaper and shoot the top then the next day turn it over, etc., etc. A 2# cut is about like thinning lacquer down 2:1 (thinner/lacquer). You can shoot lacquer straight out of the can though and it won't run unless you gob it on. I've come to love McFadden's stuff. Last piece of advice: BE PATIENT REGARDLESS. FINISHING REQUIRES LOTS AND LOTS OF PATIENCE as I always seemed to find out the hard way.

Good luck, I bet that ziricote is something to behold.

SR

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"We might not be big but we sure are slow"

As SR mentioned, you'll have a hard time filling any pores with just shellac.

I've since switched my pore filling to medium viscosity CA. It's really quick and you can start laying down shellac (either as a sealer or your finish) within 1 hour of applying the CA. 1/2 hr to cure, 20 mins to level sand CA.

But whatever you chose, just make sure your pores are filled or you will have a lot of drop filling to do (you may have some anyway wherever there are small pits to fill).

I love spraying shellac, it's very easy at 2# cut. I use the Zinsser's seal coat universal sanding sealer 100% wax free pre-mixed shellac



as my seal coat under lacquer. It'll work well as a finish too if you want. It gets really hard after a couple of weeks of curing. If you go this route, just make sure you look on the bottom of the can for the date the can was filled. Get the one that is most recent as it will be the "freshest".

I use the mohawk classic instrument lacquer and like it alot.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

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Rod ,how do you pour fill with CA.Do you spread it with a credit card like z-poxy? What kind do you use ,and how much does it take? I`m not that fond of z-poxy as it takes too many coats,and over night drying between coats.Maybe a toot or just a brief description, would help some of us break away from z-poxy.
James W B

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

James, I have a couple of guitars on the go right now and I'll try and shoot some pictures when pore filling with CA and post in a thread soon.

First off the Safety talk. Although CA is not toxic, it sure does stink and the fumes can burn the eyes. So make sure and wear some goggles (like the ones in your avatar James) and a respirator when applying. Also it might be good to set up a small fan to blow the fumes away from you. OK there you go.

It's really very easy though. I've used med visc CA a few times but I've switched to thick viscosity CA now as it allows for a bit more time to spread it. What ever brand I can get at the local tool supply store is what I use, I think it's starbond though as they are a major manufacturer of CA glues and you can buy directly from them at a good cost savings.

As far as hom much is used. for a neck, you only need a small amount, about 1/4 of a 2oz bottle maybe less. A body takes about 1-1/2 2oz bottles depending of course on the wood, the size and number of pores to fill.

I just use a folded up paper towel. Pour some of the CA onto the paper towel and wipe it on the neck, filling the pores. Work along the neck filling the pores till your all done. The paper towel will get hard of course so just turn it over or use a new piece. Let it sit for about 30 mins then sand level back to the wood with 220. I think one could wait less time but if you are filling pores on a body as well, just move on to the body and when you're done with that go sand the neck.

After sanding, wipe down the neck with naptha or solvent wait for it to flash off and look for shiny spots, these will be pores that didn't get fully filled, add a bit more CA to the low spots, let cure and sand level again. Wipe down with naptha again and see if all the pores are filled.

When you're satisfied with your pore filling, you're ready to start finishing.

On the body you can just do the same thing as the neck, paper towel and wipe it on. I've never used a credit card or squeegy but I'm sure that would work great too. Just don't let the plastic get stuck to the wood

I love pore filling with CA as long as I have a fan blowing away the fumes and I'm wearing the right safety gear. It's quick and works as good as any other method out there. I'm pretty sure Sylvan Wells has been using CA to pore fill for many many years. That where I got the idea from.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

ziricote hardly requires any pore filling.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Rod thanks for the info.I`m going to give that a go on the next one.
James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Egg white fillers have been mentioned, can someone explain how to do that? I'm just curious.

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Jake Archer
~~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~~

pure clean egg whites room temp apply with a brush or rag allow to harden scrape or sand back and repeat.

Trying to spray fill pores with most any viscous solution is problematic at best. When sprayed the odds are you will bridge more pores than you fill. Then as the finish shrinks back the fill sinks into the pores and they are prevalent again.

Shellac makes a great carrier and bonding agent for fillers like wood dust and pumice but not so great by its self as it will shrink a tad as it cures. It can be used by its self by rubbing in or squeegee in, cure, sand back and repeating. But spraying to fill is really subject to bridging rather than filling.

But Ziricote takes near no filling