How to Sand and Stain Furniture, Cont'd

• Before Ron added the tints to the shellac, he brushed some of the plain shellac on a piece of scrap wood to get an idea of what the color looked like before adding the tints.

• The natural color of shellac was yellowish. To this base color, Ron added the raw umber, which was a dark almost black color, and a little bit of burnt sienna, which was more of a reddish brown.

• Ron stirred the mixture well to get the pigments evenly distributed throughout the shellac.

• It took a little bit of experimentation before Ron finally got the color that he wanted for the toner.

• With the toner, Ron blended together some of the light and dark spots, giving the wood a more uniform look. The shellac also acted as a sealer.

4. Sanding & polyurethane:

• After the shellac-based toner dried, Ron gave the chair a light sanding, and removed the dust with a tack cloth.

• The purpose of a clear finish - in this case a polyurethane varnish today - was to protect everything underneath and to add a sheen to the finished product.

• After allowing the chair to sit for about twenty-four hours, the finish was thoroughly dry. The final step was to go over it with some very fine, (0000) steel wool.

• Ron dipped the steel wool pad into a furniture paste wax before applying it to the chair.

• The wax provided a lubricant for the steel wool, which smoothed out the finish, removing any particles that might have become stuck there while the finish was drying.

• Once the wax was applied, Ron went back over the chair with a clean dry cotton cloth, the final step in his project.