VIDEO: Wood Finish – Shellac on Historic Style Birch Doors
Published On: October 21, 2020 Posted by: Jeremy Peterson
We recently celebrated the third anniversary or working on our basement finishing project. We finally have started on the wood finish. The effort has been a labor of love for sure. Between work, family, and community responsibilities, this project has absorbed an enormous amount of time. But, it is nearing is conclusion and, so far, we are very happy with the results.
Here is a sample of the work we are doing to make the new construction look and feel like the old. First we had two-panel doors constructed out of birch with an ovulo bevel to imitate the original doors in our home. Then came the question about finishing. In doing our research, we discovered that wood workers 110 years ago didn’t have stains and polyurethane like we know them today. They used shellac, a naturally occurring wood finish.
So, we have spent a couple years learning how to use it as a wood finish and we have been amazed with the results. Here you can see what it does for these raw birch doors:
