Had a shellac pad just melt into a sticky mess on a humid day

I was working on a small writing desk for a client, trying to do a French polish. It was about 85 degrees and really muggy in the shop yesterday. I had my pad loaded with a 2-pound cut of dewaxed shellac and was maybe 20 minutes into the process when the pad just stopped moving right. I opened it up and the inside was a warm, gummy lump. The heat from my hand and the humidity basically cooked the shellac inside the cloth. I had to stop, clean everything off with alcohol, and start fresh with a new pad and much thinner layers. I lost a good hour of work. Has anyone else had a finish just turn on them because of the weather? What's your go-to fix when the air feels like soup?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugog432h ago

Man, that sucks! I feel like this is just one of those things where you try to do something the right way and the environment just fights you. It's like when I try to hang wallpaper and the humidity makes the paper bubble up no matter how careful I am. @john_murphy64 I get what you're saying about working faster, but for me it's like trying to run through quicksand. The real fix I've found is just accepting that some days the weather wins and you gotta change your whole approach, not just push through it.

sams252mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, that's the worst! I had a shellac pad fuse to a tabletop once in similar heat. The humidity just makes it set up so fast, it's like wrestling with glue. My fix now is to use way less shellac in the pad and work in shorter bursts, like ten minutes max before letting everything cool down.

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john_murphy642mo ago

Honestly I've found the opposite works better for me. I just load the pad up more and push through it before it can get sticky.