First of all, what is shellac? Shellac is not a coating you will see very often in modern houses (maybe on the antiques in the modern houses). Shellac is a resin secretion from a lac bug mixed with alcohol to protect and color wood furniture and trim. This was a popular coating, used up until plastics/vinyl where beginning to be used in coatings for wood (polyurethanes etc.)

lac beetle from http://www.pherotech.com/page223.htm

What do I do with damaged shellac?…First thing you are going to want to look at is the value of the piece of furniture/wood trim before it is finished (some antiques are worth more without being fixed). Secondly, you are going to want to find a color that matches the damaged shellac that you are wanting to fix. Shellac comes in just a few colors, most popular were orange, amber and white (mostly clear).
1. Mix your chosen color of shellac with a denatured alcohol (1 to 1 usually, thicker use more shellac, thinner use more alcohol) – use a varnish paint brush to apply the shellac mix.
2. Sand The affected area to remove rough edges and smooth area to be repaired. Use a medium to fine sandpaper.
3. Use tack cloth to remove all unwanted sawdust and debris from area getting new shellac.
4. Brush on a thin coat of shellac, making sure to always keep a wet edge while you are applying. – Keeping a wet edge means keeping the area you are adding to wet with new shellac so that the finish is uniform (overlapping your strokes instead of jumping around).
5. Allow to dry to the touch. – While the coat is drying, keep your brush bristles in a small pan of denatured alcohol.
6. Sand very lightly with a very fine sandpaper then follow steps 3-5 again until you have reached your desired finish.

notes about shellac:
- shellac comes in different pound cuts, all this means is how many pounds were added to a ratio of alcohol -> 5 pound cut is thicker than 4 pound cut.
- shellac color should be tested on a piece of sample wood before being used.
- shellac finishes usually end up with 4-6 coats so be patient when coating. If you do not get the gloss that you desire use some paste wax to shine it up (flooring wax, paste wax are usually near the shellac in the home improvement store).

If you have any shellac tricks please add them in the comments section…
thank you for reading,
Luke

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