My favorite way of sealing wood with shellac is the "flood
it and wipe it" method.
I start with Zinsser Bulls Eye SealCoat, which is a pre-mixed
dewaxed shellac mixture. Wearing gloves, I dip a cotton
rag into the SealCoat and flood it onto the wood, keeping
it wet for a minute to allow the end grain to absorb as
much as it wants. I then wipe off all the excess on both
the flat grain and the end grain.
The upshot is that the end grain, which normally absorbs
much more of the first coat, is sealed as well as the flat
grain. By the time I get to the second coat, the wood is
more or less uniformly sealed, and I find I need to spend
far less time trying to make the end grain "catch up" to
the rest of the piece.
This is the quickest, most low tech way I know of getting
a good, uniform sealer coat onto the wood. When the SealCoat
dries, usually in about an hour or less, I very lightly
scuff sand with 320 grit paper to take off the raised grain "fur," then
proceed to my next coat of any type of finish with a brush,
spray gun, or pad.
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