A few pages back, I showed this ash bowl, in progress, that I wanted to keep as white as possible, to avoid the darkening and yellowing that happens when finishing. My plan, this time around, was to use two part wood bleach followed by shellac, the lightest I could find.
Simple enough, but the devil’s always in the details.
The bowl was sanded to 800, then bleached. Bleaching was straightforward enough, directions are easy. The bleaching liquids really soak in deep. The wood was quite wet. I let it dry longer than the directions suggest, two days. I really think that I should’ve let it set for a week or two for the fibers to go back to the dry state.
I resanded and brushed on a one pound cut of ultra blonde shellac, from flakes and dna. Let dry overnight, resanded and recoated for three coats. I buffed the last coat with white non-woven pads while on the lathe.
I like it, think the process was mostly good. And the result is close to what I wanted.
Ive debated giving it a top coat of something more handleable than just shellac, but am not sure it’s necessary, and don’t want to add yellow at this point. Maybe just a coat of wax for that extra pop will be enough for the uses it’s likely to see.
View attachment 58909
Sanded lathe white
View attachment 58910
After bleach
View attachment 58911
Wet shellac. I was kind of concerned!
View attachment 58912
After shellac dried and sanded
The finished photo is in the gallery