Michael Dresdner

Q: I’ve been using cellulose sanding sealer on my woodturnings. What’s the difference between it and Zinsser SealCoat, and which is better? I normally use wipe on polyurethane as my finish.
A: Better is a personal judgment you must make, but I can certainly tell you the differences. Cellulose sanding sealer is lacquer laced with stearate, a soft soap that adds loft and thickness to the lacquer. It sands easily and tends to powder under sandpaper. However, some finishes, including many polyurethanes, can have adhesion or compatibility problems with stearated sealers. For that reason, I generally suggest SealCoat under such finishes. SealCoat is pure dewaxed shellac, and although it does not sand quite as easily as stearated sanding sealer, it is compatible under just about any finish, and offers more clarity as well.

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under compatibility, finishing techniques, lacquer, polyurethane, sanding, seal, shellac. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.