using shellac as a sealer under nc lacquer questions

[iamthewolf11]

so i stained the body (alder) using solarlux jet black dye.  then sprayed on a couple coats of shellac and let dry over night.  it felt pretty thin, so sanded with 400 matte, but not removing all shiny spots, and threw on a couple more coats.  today i started sanding it back again, but my question is, is 400 too fine? there seems to me many, many fine scratches, and this time around sanding, do i need to remove all shiny spots. i plan on finishing with a satin nitro lacquer.  and i know what some of you are going to say "why the hell did you shellac as a sealer?!!" so lets get past it lol  ill post pictures soon

 

[bagman67]

Shellac as a sealer is fine - Tonar approved, and my empirical experience is that it works fine also.  Good for you.


I usually only bother with 320 between coats, myself, reasoning that the new coat needs to have something to grab onto, and finer grits reduce the tooth for subsequent coats.  But 400 is not outrageously fine.


I would, however, be more diligent about scuffing the entire already-applied coat before adding a new one, reasoning that I want the new coat to behave the same way everywhere I apply it - and applying it to glossy patches can be expected to yield different results than applying it to scuff-sanded surface.  Your finish may not fail if you half-ass the in-between sanding, but why increase the risk?

 

[iamthewolf11]

Shellac as a sealer is fine - Tonar approved, and my empirical experience is that it works fine also.  Good for you.


I usually only bother with 320 between coats, myself, reasoning that the new coat needs to have something to grab onto, and finer grits reduce the tooth for subsequent coats.  But 400 is not outrageously fine.


I would, however, be more diligent about scuffing the entire already-applied coat before adding a new one, reasoning that I want the new coat to behave the same way everywhere I apply it - and applying it to glossy patches can be expected to yield different results than applying it to scuff-sanded surface.  Your finish may not fail if you half-ass the in-between sanding, but why increase the risk?

  thanks man. yeah i sanded pretty well between the first coats and i just scuffed the second coats to where there are still many shiny spots.  I'm thinking that is good enough for the nitro to go over.

 

[bagman67]

It's particularly when you are changing from shellac to nitro that I would be the most careful.  One nitro coat will pretty much melt into the preceding one, so if you leave a little gloss here and there, no biggie; but when you change products, that's when you want the interface as good as you can get it.