# Oil Stain Over Shellac Wash Coat - Bleeding Problem



## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

So I tried shellac under oil based stain on some cherry wainscoting I am building for my office. The shellac is the Zinsser seal coat dewaxed variety, thinned 2:3 shellac to denatured alcohol. I sprayed the shellac with a clean HVLP, and let it dry completely. The shellac went on beautifully, and did not need to be sanded. Then I cleaned the gun completely with denatured alcohol, and sprayed it empty. Next I was ready to stain so I ran some mineral spirits through, as that is the solvent for my Varathane Dark Walnut stain. The stain was sprayed at full concentration right out of the can. 
I let the stain sit for a couple minutes and wiped it off with lint-free blue shop towels. The stain went on well, and avoided a blotchy finish as intended. The color came out well. My sample board showed me that a ratio any more than 1:1 shellac to alcohol sealed the wood too well, and creates a color that was too light. If the ratio was less than 2:3 shellac to alcohol, the solution didn't seal the wood enough and created a blotchy finish. I settled on the 2:3 ratio because it gave me the color and even, consistent finish I was after. 
The only problem I had was some bleeding of the stain on the edges and some faces of the wainscoting boards. After the initial wipedown of stain it looked great. Then after checking on it a few minutes later in had bled an become much darker and wet again in some spots. Every section exhibited this pattern of bleeding. After wiping the stain back several more times with a dry blue shop towel, the finish dried and looks great. Does anyone know how to prevent the bleeding in the first place?


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

You can make the photos display by putting an exclmation point before and after each URL…


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