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In this sample, I applied a very light coat of oil to the bottom half of the board and then used a coat of garnet shellac on all but the very top; the top section is lacquer alone. I'm not too crazy about the yellow coloring of the garnet shellac, but when I look at the finish there's no question that the color in the shellac improves the look of depth and shimmer in the wood. Later on I'll cover adding dye to your finish to make it any color you like; some colors look much better than this yellow and add depth to the finish that looks more natural. Moving down to the section that was oiled before the garnet shellac was applied, there's a little more depth and shimmer in the wood. Because the wood doesn't have any random dark spots in it, the oil works to accentuate the grain and figure without detracting from it's natural appearance.

When light strikes the wood at an angle, you can see that the section near the top with the garnet shellac has more shimmer than the small section at the top with lacquer only. The wood sort of "lights up" and it seems like the color and texture is way below the surface of the finish. The bottom half, with the oil, has more variation and range of color; the oil darkened the wood along the lines of the grain. The increased variation adds even more to the look of depth in the wood.

Here's the same sample after a couple months. Time and exposure to sunlight has darkened the wood some and it's starting to take on the aged patina. The contrast between the oiled section and the rest is not quite as pronounced as it was at first and it still has improved depth.

In the previous section on lacquer & shellac, there was a curly cherry sample with just a lacquer finish. On this sample, only the very top section is lacquer by itself and the rest has been wiped with a light coat of boiled linseed oil (BLO). The oiled section has more contrast, is overall darker, the darker areas are redder, and the wood has increased depth and shimmer. On curly cherry, there's no question that the oil does a better job of popping the grain and figure than lacquer alone. Since you can't fight the blotchiness, why not make the most of it!

In this sample, the area at the top and the area at the bottom were both oiled before the lacquer topcoats were applied. One of the sections was oiled with BLO and one was oiled with danish oil; I don't know which is which and they both look the same. You can use different oil-base products for the effect; tung oil, Minwax "Natural" stain, oil-base varnish, etc. The difference is the dry time. The thin "plain" looking band in the middle is the gap between the BLO and danish oil and is lacquer by itself.

It does make a difference to use lacquer or shellac over the light coat of oil instead of just using varnish by itself. Although oil-base varnish will pop the grain and figure, it doesn't have the same optical properties as lacquer or shellac and doesn't impart the same look of depth. One finish that's often recommended starts with a light coat of oil, then a coat or two of shellac (choose a grade that gives you a color you like), and then use 2-3 coats of varnish over the shellac to make the finish more durable. This finish has become VERY popular since it came out in Jeff Jewitt's book "Great Wood Finishes."

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