I read the messages here about what will and won't work. This isn't something new. I have spent most of my life finishing wood of one sort or another. Along the way I was overloaded with information about the things that just will not work, and other things that I could take to the bank.
Some of the things that I was supposed to learn were that water and oil don't mix; incompatible finishes, solvents, and thinners shall always be that way, incompatible; shellac over lacquer won't work; neither will a lacquer over a wax; an oil will not stick to a lacquer; lacquer is no substitute for shellac, ever; shellac is not a good finish; lacquer is a difficult finish; and the list goes on and on.
The only thing that I learned from experience was that most of the things that shouldn't work, did; and those that were supposed to work, didn't. So much for the conventional wisdom. Every day I see finishing schedules that shouldn't work, and I use many myself that aren't supposed to work; but they ARE working, and they are are working very well.
I have come to two (2) conclusions. If the wood itself is polished to a smooth high gloss surface, it really doesn't matter what we put over it. And, we will always be disappointed when we depend on the finish to do it all for us.
I also have learned that there are things that I can do easilly, while others cannot; and that the opposite is also true. Using CA glue and Boiled Linseed Oil at the same time and getting anything that looks like a finish is one of those opposite things. The differences are often lost in the details. "I did it exactly like you said, and it didn't work". Maybe you really didn't do it like I said; but maybe you did, and my description was not complete.
Learning about finishing wood is like knowing more and more about less and less, until we start knowing everything about nothing; or, is that the other way around. Maybe I have had my head in the can of lacquer again.
Some of the things that I was supposed to learn were that water and oil don't mix; incompatible finishes, solvents, and thinners shall always be that way, incompatible; shellac over lacquer won't work; neither will a lacquer over a wax; an oil will not stick to a lacquer; lacquer is no substitute for shellac, ever; shellac is not a good finish; lacquer is a difficult finish; and the list goes on and on.
The only thing that I learned from experience was that most of the things that shouldn't work, did; and those that were supposed to work, didn't. So much for the conventional wisdom. Every day I see finishing schedules that shouldn't work, and I use many myself that aren't supposed to work; but they ARE working, and they are are working very well.
I have come to two (2) conclusions. If the wood itself is polished to a smooth high gloss surface, it really doesn't matter what we put over it. And, we will always be disappointed when we depend on the finish to do it all for us.
I also have learned that there are things that I can do easilly, while others cannot; and that the opposite is also true. Using CA glue and Boiled Linseed Oil at the same time and getting anything that looks like a finish is one of those opposite things. The differences are often lost in the details. "I did it exactly like you said, and it didn't work". Maybe you really didn't do it like I said; but maybe you did, and my description was not complete.
Learning about finishing wood is like knowing more and more about less and less, until we start knowing everything about nothing; or, is that the other way around. Maybe I have had my head in the can of lacquer again.