Hard Shellac Test
One of our customers (Phil) wanted a finish for a Huon Pine table he was making. He wanted something that didn’t darken the wood and was tough enough to stand up to a bit of punishment without allowing the soft Huon Pine to be damaged.
I suggested our Sanding Sealer to seal the surface after sanding and take away the natural Huon oil from the surface of the wood which can stop some finishes from fully curing and adhering well. I also recommended our Hard Shellac for the final finish due to its toughness and ability to withstand all sorts of marking, etc.
He had a number of good brand name finishes that he had been recommended and was using and decided to do a test of all he had. Below is the results of the tests along with his photos.
INDEPENDENT TEST BY USER
An eight hour stain test was conducted comparing Hard Shellac with various other natural looking finishes. Among them was… FW Scandinavian Oil, HBO, Hardwax, Organ Oil Hard Burnishing Oil and various poly/Tung combos.
These were all tested for stains, with coffee, red wine, rust and permanent marker.
Hard Shellac was the only one that came out totally clean afterwards. Evolution Hardwax with 2k hardener came second. A 9K ceramic coating was added to part of some samples to see if that would help.
Hard Shellac was the only finish to come out completely unscathed. See the 2 photos below for the test and test results.
In the top Photo: The boards with only 2 Leggo bricks are supposedly the more durable finishes the right brick has red wine under it, the left coffee, the metal bottle caps have water for rust and the squiggles are the obvious permanent markers.
The 3 boards with 4 Leggo blocks have roughly half of the board is also treated with 9K hardener to see if it makes a difference to stains from red wine and coffee, hence the extra two leggo blocks. (there are small black marks showing how far down from the blue tape the hardener was applied).
NB: All test boards were sanded up to 1000 grit, finished as per manufacturers’ instructions and left to fully cure/dry/harden, well in advance of the testing.
The 3rd board from left has a base coat of U-Beaut Sanding Sealer and is finished with U-Beaut Hard Shellac.
The 3rd board from right is our Sanding Sealer which I wouldn’t expect to work at all, as our Sanding Sealer is not a finish.
Click on the photo to see detailed image on a new page, where you can enlarge up to 500% if you like.
Below is the results photo after 8 hour test.
I have taken the liberty of rating the 7 tests from #1 to #4 then F for fail. However, with the exception of #1 all have failed the test #2 is not a miserable failure. However, the rest all really deserve anything other than an F.
NB: I am not knocking any of the failed finishes. Just because they failed this test doesn’t mean they are no good. They just weren’t the right finishes for this purpose.
I also took the liberty of pasting U-Beaut: Sanding Sealer & Hard Shellac on the 3rd board from left in both photos. Evolution Hardwax with 2k hardener is #2 and from a distance looks almost unblemished but upclose there are still light residual marks from the red marker and very faint rust stain. Have not posted the names of the other products on the pieces but you may be able to see them written in pencil on the boards in full enlarged photos although they are very hard to read.
Click on the photo to see detailed image on a new page, where you can enlarge up to 500% if you like.
A final added bonus: The tester said the Hard Shellac really made the grain pop, way, way better than any of the other finishes used. Bringing out chatoyance, like tiger eye or opal on a seperate test board of Huon Pine.
Unfortunately not the easiest to show well in a photograph.
