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Nov. 5th 2008 Volume 1.1

Ben Myre writes:

I decided I'm going to try to walk to work tomorrow. 
We measured it at 3.5 miles this morning, from
apartment parking lot to Capitol garage.  I'll put my
lunch in a backpack along with my workshirt, so I can
get it sweaty AFTER I start working.  I don't need to
lug any shellac with me tomorrow.

It is the 8th week we've been at the Kansas State
House, House of Representatives, "Refinishing" the
Giant Rostrum.  During the past 8 weeks I've met a lot
of new friends and acquaintances, including the KS
Speaker of the House.  I've learned a lot of Kansas
history, I've managed to get the staff to offer me coffee,
for free, and I've brushed an abundant amount of
shellac.

Today we saw the most progress.  The first week was
prepping the area with sheets of 4 mil poly and over
that, fiberglass booth paper. We do not want to get the
new "old" carpet full of shellac stains.  Following this
was a week of cleaning the entire beast with distilled
water and M90, a medium soap.  I was by then making
friends with the Rostrum.  For over two weeks I
sanded the entire thing to create mechanical adhesion
for the shellac and to rid it of the old brush marks and
runs it acquired when it got stripped and refinished in
the 1980's, using medium, and then fine Webb sanding
sponges of different shapes.  We also rubbed the places
that had cracking and checking with Alcohol and a rag,
to reamalgamate the finish and fill in it's own cracks.

By then I was pretty comfortable in my new Capital
home, people knew who I was and what I was doing,
and I couldn't wait to start the brushing.  We use the
Robert Simmons Sapphire brushes of all sizes, and are
very satisfied.  2# Blonde, Garnet, and Dark Garnet
Dewaxed shellac are what we used at first.  We had to
get a small section of the Rostrum approved by the
architects before we could put color on the rest.  Dave
ordered a whole set of Ilva Dyes that we used to
achieve the darker color we desired.  They said yes.

Have you ever had issues with roping and crinkling if
you shellac over an existing non-shellac finish?

I talked to Mitch earlier this week, and he suggested
using Waxed shellac for the first coat to avoid roping on
successive coats.  It works like a charm, looks nice,
and seems to brush nicer (the wax).Last week I
"sealed" the entire walnut structure with the Dark
Garnet dewaxed Shellac.  The stuff is Gold, beautiful. 
Though very sexy, not the color required.  So, today,
using Ilva dyes and 2# Kushmi #1 button lac with a few
Ilva dye combinations,we saw a very noticable shift in
color to where we are going.  I am not worried, we will
get done by our new deadline, the week before
Thanksgiving.

I left my camera at the Statehouse, so I don't have the
new color pictures, but will send next time with more
notes.

It's late, I'm tired, and I'm gonna walk to work
tomorrow.

See you next Time,

Ben Myre
Nov. 5th 2008 Vol.1 Issue 1





















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