Hot take: I thought shellac was just for antiques until a job in Savannah needed a fast-drying sealer under milk paint.

Used a 2-pound cut on some raw pine shelves and it locked in the tannins and dried in 45 minutes flat. Anyone have a different go-to for sealing knots under light colors?

3 comments

3 Comments

jennifer_west523mo ago

Wait, you're using shellac under milk paint? I've had that combo fail on me before. The shellac seals so well the paint can't grab onto anything, it just peels off in sheets later. For pine knots I always go with a stain blocking primer like BIN. It's sticky, dries fast, and the paint actually stays put. Shellac is great for a lot of things but I've found it's a risky base for paint.

henrys7428d ago

Yeah @wade780, the shellac gamble can go either way. I've stripped enough peeling cabinets to know a alcohol based shellac just sits on the surface, BIN's got that tack that actually bites into the wood.

wade7803mo ago

My old foreman in Atlanta swore by shellac for knots, but we lost a whole kitchen cabinet job to peeling paint. It's like using super glue when you just need a little tack.