Shellac on MDF?? - Woodworking Talk

TxDade · 01-30-2012, 09:44 PM

Can shellac be used on MDF? I just finished my second WW project and wanted to "protect" with some sort of finish. It is made of Pine and MDF. It will be used for Miter saw, router table, ect. ( I added a power switch to it yesterday

). I am thinking about using shellac as the finish and am not sure if its safe for use on MDF. I live on the South Texas Gulf Coast where the humidy is normally above 90%. I have Poly but wanted to try something different. The shellac I am looking at is Bulls Eye Amber Shellac from our local Lowes store. Any comments pro or con will be appreciated. Thanks...

chemmy · 01-30-2012, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxDade

Can shellac be used on MDF? I just finished my second WW project and wanted to "protect" with some sort of finish. It is made of Pine and MDF. It will be used for Miter saw, router table, ect. ( I added a power switch to it yesterday

). I am thinking about using shellac as the finish and am not sure if its safe for use on MDF. I live on the South Texas Gulf Coast where the humidity is normally above 90%. I have Poly but wanted to try something different. The shellac I am looking at is Bulls Eye Amber Shellac from our local Lowes store. Any comments pro or con will be appreciated. Thanks...

LOL, well this ought to make c'man happy,

Though I'm a great admirer and user and defender of shellac, in this case there are 3 main problems. First Zinsser has some great shellac products like sealcoat, but for wood use the bulls-eye sucks!! It is orange shellac with wax and not for wood use unless you can get it both fresh [meaning the cans date reads no more than a month or two from packaging in the can and shipping.], and you use it by itself.

2) if you decide that your not happy with it, you'll find that poly especially will not adhere well to it, nor some other finishes.

3) having lived in south Florida and worked briefly in southern to mid Texas for a while when it was 116 and 90+ humidity, The only way you can successfully spray it without blushing is to add n-butanol or n- propanol to retard it, and you can't do that when using a spray can. Even if you could, it would slow down the drying dramatically since a good deal would be needed in such weather.

In this case i would highly recommend a poly, both for quick build, anti-blushing, and water/humidity/and heat protection also.

From my personal view point, i probably would have purchased some nice burl laminate or other, and just applied that, instead of any coatings except maybe for the edges, which i probably would have done in black, seeing it's a utilitarian piece for the shop.

Chemmy.

TxDade · 01-30-2012, 10:42 PM

Thanks for the input. I guess I will probally just go with the poly then. I can use it on both surfaces. I am glad I asked about the Bulls Eye brand shellac. I wasn't sure if it contained wax or not, it wasn't listed in the discription on the Lowes web page. I did read about the wax being bad for wood products. I am even leaning towards not applying any finish at all, just use it as it is. I am sure it would last for years with just bare wood. I appreciate your comments, thanks for the help.

chemmy · 01-30-2012, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxDade

Thanks for the input. I guess I will probally just go with the poly then. I can use it on both surfaces. I am glad I asked about the Bulls Eye brand shellac. I wasn't sure if it contained wax or not, it wasn't listed in the discription on the Lowes web page. I did read about the wax being bad for wood products. I am even leaning towards not applying any finish at all, just use it as it is. I am sure it would last for years with just bare wood. I appreciate your comments, thanks for the help.

Your welcome.