Choosing the right shellac polish

Shellac is a natural ingredient which, when added to industrial alcohol, produces French polish. A good mix for general polishing, which we stock, is a 2½ lb cut which in "old money" means 2½ lb of shellac to one gallon of alcohol (methylated spirits).

There are several types of shellac polish usually based on colour:

• Garnet Brown Often used on traditional mahogany
• Button Orange / golden Often used on traditional oak
• Orange Orange Also known as standard polish
• White Clear Bleached shellac for use on bare wood
• Transparent Blonde dewaxed shellac, available in several grades
• Black Ready made colour for "black piano" type finishing

Modified shellac polishes. The best types have a high proportion of shellac which is combined with other ingredients to give a harder wearing fine quality finish. Examples are

• FINPOL Special Polish
• FINPOL Extra Hard Polish
• FINPOL Easy Polish

You can alter the colour of any shellac based polish by adding Finney’s Powder Spirit Stains to a little Clear Methylated Spirits before stirring into the polish. Colours of Powder Spirit Stains available:

• Mahogany (traditional red)
• Bismark Brown (red / brown)
• Walnut (warm brown)
• Oak (cold brown)
• Black
• Yellow
• Red
• Green
• Blue

Finney’s Powder Spirit Stains are intermixable to produce intermediate or tinted shades e.g., yellow and red make orange or mahogany and red make modern mahogany.