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From what I understood from some recent posts, it looks like Shellac CAN be used under epoxy as long as it is 100% wax free. Am I understanding this correctly?
I want to use shellac to really bring out the color and grain of my current project, and I still wanted to use epoxy in order to get that nice flat mirror finish with KTM-9.
Thanks

-j.

_________________
“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

No! No! No! Never use shellac under epoxy. You can use shellac over epoxy. Shellac will adhere to almost anything but epoxy will not adhere to shellac well. Now if the shellac is well cured and sanded you may get epoxy to bond with shellac for a long time but I would not bet a finish on it. I fill with Zpoxy on almost every thing then seal with shellac, But never the other way. I have done many test and almost every time I put epoxy over shellac it failed in a short time. I have never had a failure with shellac over lightly sanded epoxy

Fill first with Zpoxy finishing resign, sand level, seal with wax free shellac and finish with KTM9 and watch it pop.

Thats what I thought...
So shellac will still make the grain "pop" if it is applied after epoxy and has no actual contact with the wood itself?
-j.

_________________
“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

There is no need to double up on using shellac AND epoxy. You can pore fill with the epoxy, then apply a wash coat with thinned epoxy. Epoxy will make the grain pop just as well. That said, as Michael said, you can spray shellac on over the epoxy pore-fill.

Caveat: Make sure you sand the shellac or epoxy prior to spraying the ktm-9. The finish requires a good mechanical bond to adhere properly to the shellac or epoxy.

Don Williams38782.5191666667

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don is right If you use, say Zpoxy Finishing Resin or System 3 to fill with there is no need to use shellac, I do just as a mediator between the epoxy and the ktm9 but it i snot required either to make the grain pop or to make ktm9 bond.

I would stay away from 5 min epoxy and use a finishing epoxy. They typically are 20-40 min pot life.
MichaelP38782.5232175926

J,

Either shellac or epoxy will "Pop" the grain. It is redundant and ineffective to use both for the purpose of popping the grain. The first product to hit the wood is the one that will have the popping effect. The reason for the shellac over the epoxy is to help the KTM9 adhere to the epoxy. The shellac provides a barrier between the two products. The epoxy will already have the amber color so that will help give warmth to the wood since you are using a water white product as a topcoat. If you want to experiment more you could apply a different colored shellac such as a garnet over the epoxy. Do some test pieces and we can discuss this more when I see you in class on this week.