sprayin' it everywhere, practically soaked myself in alcohol... yet it's gettin' hard again

[acalculatedname]

I'm here to tell you about nature's miracle wood-finishing product. It's called shellac. (No, I'm not talking about the band of the same name, which also just happens to be one of my favorite bands ever.) And like so many of the best things in life, shellac comes out of a bug's ass.

Comments

[favoritebean]

Ahh, shellac. I had no idea you could buy it dry. We would use the mixed stuff in the little cans when restoring antique furniture. I don't recall it smelling like apples, but I do remember it was sweet smelling, and the little brush that came with the can was always purple from the liquid.

I've never heard of the method with the black tea, vinegar and steel wool. It sounds kind of interesting. My parents still do a lot of wood work, so I'll ask them.

The guitar looks good too.

[acalculatedname]

Google for "iron wool vinegar stain" and you'll find a ton of stuff. I actually got the idea out of a super-old wood finishing book. The frustrating thing is you really don't know how the wood is going to react or what color you're really going to get

[millysdaughter]

I like the brown much better than gray.

[acalculatedname]

It's not a color I would have chosen but I actually do like it quite a lot now. I was going for a very deteriorated, mottled-looking, natural sort of grey, possibly with milk-paint accents. (My attempts at making milk paint somehow failed horribly, but it would have made OK paneer.)

I was also pretty mad at the time because the bizarre orange pickguard I'd chosen would have looked great against any given grey but was absolutely awful on the brown. So that was another $15 and another four days waiting for a black pickguard to arrive, but oh well, guess it worked out. :)

[acalculatedname]

This is kind of what I was HOPING to get, but with grey instead of blue. By the way, pretty much all of that guy's guitars are absolutely amazing-looking.

[millysdaughter]

I like yours better. I think it looks amazing!

[acalculatedname]

Well, jeez, thanks? Maybe I should charge $2500 a pop like that guy then :)

[millysdaughter]

If you charged by-the-hour, that might get you minimum wage?

[acalculatedname]

That's what the luthiers tell me. Or less.