Shellac was a traditional wood finish for a very long time and well past the turn of the century. And it is my belief that a great many of our American doubles were finished with it.
The introduction of lacquers and then polyurethanes took its place. And along with that came the negative publicity of shellac being inferior to these other finishes and having poor moisture resistence.
Sound a lot like what happened to Damascus barrels after the widespread use of fluid steel???
I have done testing of the effects of water on shellac finishes and have found no ill effects from it. I am not saying that moisture in extreme cases will not have an effect on a shellac finish or on a finish that has a lot of thinning and wear or of the moisture is allowed to get under it. And other finishes can also be effected by moisture as well.
Yes, there are many types of more modern finishes that may be superior in ways to shellac. But we are talking about this more from a standpoint of what was and wasnt used originally. Not what is better that others in certain situations or modern day applications.
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B. Dudley
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