Tinting Shellac

After putting a couple coats of straight amber shellac onto the shelves, it wasn't quite coming out the right color to match the rest of the woodwork. After a bit of research, it appears that TransTint is the best option.

Reddish Brown was selected as we're fond of reddish tinted woodwork over orangey-yellow. About half of a cleaned glass salsa jar was filled with shellac, and then about 3/4 of a tablespoon of dye was added and mixed up. What resulted was a very pretty reddish-brown. Be warned, the TransTint dyes are very potent stuff. I decided that the color was just a little too dark, and so further experimentation will have to happen.

So the shelves are reddish brown on one side, and lighter on the other. You can't see the tops really unless you're very tall, and even then I've covered them with grippy plastic mats.

Next up is refinishing the doors, and my husband needs to set up the bench grinder I got him over the weekend to polish all the old brass hinges. $65 for a tool that we'll have other uses for vs. $100 for new matching hinges. Unfortunately none of the knobs and pulls will match as they're newer and look like they're supposed to be fake old bronze with a heavy patina.