My old boss said shellac was dead and to never touch it again. He was completely wrong.

3 comments

3 Comments

Completely wrong" is a stretch. For a lot of modern finishing work, shellac IS basically dead. It's just not durable enough for most stuff people make today.

park.abby11d ago

Wait, shellac is dead? @alice336 have you seen the antique restoration community? They swear by it for period pieces because nothing else matches the original finish. It's still the go-to for instrument makers too, like violins and guitars, for its sound qualities. Saying it's not durable ignores all the 200-year-old furniture finished with it that's still around!

lucaslee1h ago

Totally get where park.abby is coming from. I used to think the same way until @alice336 pointed out how it fails on modern, high-use stuff. It's alive for restorations but dead for new coffee tables.