What a great overview with so much useful information! Thank you very much.

You would know that this guy is experienced. Listen to a handy man that's missing a finger because he's been there and done that project you're thinking. Good job keep on teaching you're a good teacher.

This is great! My man is like a wood working Bob Ross.

Actually, if you use the hardware store alcohol like Kleen Strip denatured alcohol, it contains methanol which is toxic, an alternative is anhydrous isopropyl alcohol, it is commonly known as "rubbing alcohol" but unlike the rubbing alcohol you buy in the store- the water is removed, regular rubbing alcohol like 70% sold in supermarkets contains water which you don't want in the shellac,but anhydrous isopropyl alcohol can be bought on Amazon, a gallon is about $31. Considering the Kleen Strip denatured quart is about $7 or $8, the price is just about the same.

A superb way of polishing good quality furniture. Thank you for reviving my memories.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Garrett! I didn't know about using a scraper to level out a finish or adding dyes to shellac. This has been very helpful. Scott

Incredible video, thank you for making and sharing.. I appreciate how much specific and direct information and advice on how to use and finish up shellac, not to short and broad or brief but also not like some of the disorganized videos you find online that are hard to watch/learn from. Thank you!

If it's wood it has to be shellac. Nothing could be more natural than a bug's secretion. Great finish, texture and penetration. Thanks for the vid.

Thanks. You gave me a very good understanding of shellac and how to apply it.

Really useful video, has helped me immensely - thank you for making it.

Man, you're like the Mr Rogers of woodworking

Thank you for your sharing. Great overview and explanations. I'm using French polish shellac to varnish my hand made violins, and for old violins restauration. I'm not finishing with a synthetic varnish, just the ghosting so the varnish overall remains very thin, it is quite strong and mainly it let vibrate more effectively the wood, so better the sound.

Very well done Garett !

That astra shellac is great!! Really good quality and dissolves very easily in alcohol .. thanks !!

Wonderful lesson. Thank you very much!

Wow. Great video 👍

Thank you for the information.

I just started using Shellac flakes I will never go back to canned shellac the finish on my projects came out smoother looks better and seems to have a harder finish your video is very helpful thanks.

Nope, folks! "Alcohol" is just a word that , scientifically, is used to describe a particular chemical structure. There are literally thousands of alcohols - all different, but with this (rather simple) chemical structure. the suffix "-ol" in chemistry always describes an alcohol. So, ethanol, methanol, propanol isobutanol, etc. Ethyl alcohol (also known as ethanol) is the stuff that people drink the world over. It's in every "alcoholic" drink known on earth. It's not poisonous - although it makes you drunk, if you drink too much! Ethyl alcohol is produced on an amazingly vast scale, all over the world. It is one of the most common (and cheap) solvents required by global industry. But governments don't want people to just go and buy pure ethyl alcohol and drink it. It honestly costs much less than a dollar per litre to produce, and so it would in fact be the cheapest way to get drunk - and all governments want the heavy taxes that they impose on alcoholic drinks, and it's not desirable to have large swathes of the population staggering around drunk on cheap alcohol! So governments require that ethanol producers (that is, industrial scale producers) add a number of chemicals to the ethanol, to inhibit people from drinking the stuff. These include chemicals to make the stuff taste bitter, smell bad and color it (often blue). In the past (and still today in many countries), another kind of alcohol - methyl alcohol - is added to make people not drink it; and methanol is in fact poisonous, so that if you drink it you'll get sick (and if you drink pure methyl alcohol -methanol - you can become blind, and can in fact die!) So, "methylated spirits" is in fact ethyl alcohol (ethanol) with around 5% of methyl alcohol (methanol) added to it to make it undrinkable. This is known in many countries as "metho", or "meths". The 5% or so of methanol added to the ethanol doesn't change the solvent properties of the material in any meaningful way, so that it's pointless to try and buy "pure ethanol" for this purpose (acting as a solvent). You can buy pure ethanol at laboratory chemical suppliers - but the governments then load it with huge taxes, so that it's prohibitively expensive. If you have a commercial laboratory and MUST have pure ethanol, you can apply for an exemption from the taxes - but this is a complicated matter, requiring the keeping of careful records that governments periodically inspect. Finally, the commercial production of ethanol yields a material that is 95% ethanol and 5% water. This is not because the producers are sloppy, or want it this way. Rather, commercially, ethanol is produced via distillation, and the purest that one can obtain ethanol by this process is 96% pure. The matter has to do with the formation of what are called chemical azeotropes. To get the last 5% of water out of the ethanol, a second (more expensive) process is required - and for the purposes of it being an industrial solvent, this 4% of water is not an issue. The stuff you can buy in hardware stores around the world may have a variety of names, but basically, it will never be just "pure alcohol" or" pure ethanol". It's always going to have around 4-5% of water in it (no problem) and it may have one or more of a few additives (like around 5% of methanol, or something bitter, called bitrex) put there to stop people from drinking it!

Nice presentation

Interesting: Thanks!

Thank you :)

I think I may end up watching this many times👍👍👍

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Very informative and really nice to have the products listed. For a brush application, how much volume would result mixing 250g of flakes with ethanol? Also, is it possible to reuse the brush just cleaning it with alcohol?

Thank you very informative. Although I wonder how can you French polish without oil on the pad. I could never do it. It sticks to the surface. That’s a mistery

More than 30 years ago, I always used Shelac flakes but nowadays can shellac is more convenient and readily available in different colors.

Thank You. I enjoyed your video. Was wondering if I could put shellac over boiled linseed oil. Thanks.

Brilliance.Brilliance? What is that?clarity?depth of the finish?

Thank you very much for taking your time to make this video! It is very helpful.I just finished an office desk with shellac and did a french polish on it. It looks great but I want to give it more protection since it is gonna be used every day in the office.You recommend on your video here to apply a coat of varnish.Would a wipe on varnish be ok ? Water based, oil based ? Would it be ok to apply it right over the french polish ?I would love to spray some lacquer but I am in an apartment and the desk is very big.Thank you very much for your help!Julian

Thanks for showing the process. I am however curious about if we can spray the Shellac with a pressure gun ?

Helio, thanks for the video. Hoje do you remove the wax from shellac? Thanks.

Great video. Can't understand why it has so few views.

What were the types of wood you were using, especially the "banded" type - Thanks for the video btw - very informative.

Please tell me what kind of red colors I can add to my shellac to varnish my violin. Please refer to many colors because I am living in a small city without access to various materials. By doing so, I may find one of them. And please say your idea about saffron. Thanks.

I can't seem to finish the polishing without dull streak marks left behind. I tried using less DNA and it seems to stick more. I tried using more oil and that didn't help. I tried using more DNA and that dissolves the previous coats. How do you get that final polish where you can call it quits? This is so frustrating. When I start out a new session, it works fine, but as I work it out and start burnishing, the dull marks start to be left behind.

do you recommend a sanding sealer? What is the polishing procedure to obtain a gloss shine?

I have a piece with a glued handle, I am having trouble getting coverage where they meet and also end up having a build up along the edge and kind of splotchy area where my rubber changes direction, right where they meet. How can I French polish along this handle ? I can t remove the handle.

Thank you so much ... can you please suggest any trustable online store who ships internationaly? And which shallac is best in the world i mean which country pruduce best 1? Regards Usman

Would you use shellac on old "gumwood" paneling, wood?

@dictum What shellac cut do you use for a thin coat?

i am covering a table top w shellac but wondering if I need to do anything with the underside? great video btw thanks for sharing.

Have a few questions about shellac, what’s the best way to contact you? Thanks

California has banned denatured alcohol. what else can I use?

I miss closeup pics!

Let’s see you french polish a black grand piano.

Not a criticism of you ,but most demonstrations of French polishing showing perfectly flat pieces of wood. Wish people would show the reality of polishing raised surfaces internal corners and mouldings. Sometimes different techniques have to be applied.

I'm putting shellac in chest of drawers. Because the wood smells of moth balls. I've already sanded the wood. But i need to know when the shellac dries, will it stain my clothes?

Whoa, dipping the pad? The pad should not be wet. You need to squirt a bit of the shellac onto the wadding inside the pad. You are using way to much shellac! You are essentially painting on the shellac. You actually need very little shellac and reactivate by squirting a little of the ethanol onto the wadding. Way too much shellac.

This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

French polishing involves using oil to lubricate the rubber, come back when you have a skill to show.

To much inaccurate information, sorry, but those watching this should read up on this instead of assuming what is said here is correct.!!