Shellacing end grain.

I have found that sanding and Shellac don’t work all that great, I usually plane end grain smooth and Shellac goes on much better.

-- Lifting one end of the plank.

I’m meant “top coats” in my first post. Planing is not an option for me.

-- RMiller, New Jersey, http://inflatus1.wix.com/rsmiller

iF I understand correctly, then andre is correct..you are trying to shellac end grain discs. Are they all dry as a bone? Is there a big difference between the heartwood and sapwood? Between the different species? Shellac would have trouble with these differences in the wood.

They were pretty dry when I started. They dry spots are erratic. Not restricted to heart wood. I’m just trying to figure out if there is a trick to getting the top coat smooth. There should be a point when the discs stop absorbing. Then hopefully the coats will be more even drying.

-- RMiller, New Jersey, http://inflatus1.wix.com/rsmiller

I read that you can do a sand with a very fine grit (400) and this was supposed to reduce the absorption. The purpose of this was to finish a table top so that the face grain and end grain would look the same. It might help.

-- jstegall

I finished some old growth redwood end grain that I had the same issues with: the early wood and late wood absorb finish at different rates (my redwood was like shellacking a sponge). I just kept applying more shellac, sanding lightly with 320 grit, and it eventually came out very even.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Awesome. That’s what I wanted to hear.

-- RMiller, New Jersey, http://inflatus1.wix.com/rsmiller

This is one of 2 redwood bandsaw boxes I finished with shellac.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Nice work.

-- RMiller, New Jersey, http://inflatus1.wix.com/rsmiller