I have worked 3 days sanding, smoothing, putting coat after coat of shellac on my white-oak wood trim from around the windows. It was looking good. Maybe one or two more coats would get the color to that rich, reddish brown I was looking for. I decided to leave it outside on the sawhorses under the shade screen overnight and the next day to really cure before I added anymore coats.

We took off for a relaxing day driving around the forests and little towns an hour or more away from home. I was feeling really good about how my project was progressing and just had so much fun on our day excursion.

When we returned I went out to bring in the wood trim because it may rain later on that night. I was horrified. If ever there was a time I’d swear (but I don’t swear and don’t plan to start) this would be it. Dang it anyways! Three days of pampering that dumb oak with that dumb shellac!

I knew immediately what happend. It had happened to me before with another finish I put on some deck chairs and had put them out in the yard a day after I thought they were dry but before they were “fully” cured.. Those are still in the garage waiting to be stripped back down and refinished.

I did learn my lesson on the deck chairs and that is why I left the trim out under the shade screen. I normally get out there to work on the wood after lunch time. What I didn’t know is that the morning sun finds places to shine through the spaces in the pergola before it gets to my shade screen.

There were hundreds of blisters from where the solvents must have heated up and raised to the surface. I’ll get the stripper back out. Back to square one. Now it’s raining and rain is in the forecast for the whole work week. Bummer