I know everyone loves shellac for antiques, but I had a total failure with it on a 1920s oak dresser last month.

3 comments

3 Comments

Disagree completely. Shellac is the only right choice for old oak. Modern finishes look wrong, like plastic wrap on wood. That dresser probably had wax or oil gunk built up. You need to strip it down to bare wood first. Shellac sticks to clean oak like nothing else. Gives it that warm glow new stuff can't match.

dixon.amy17d ago

Shellac isn't the only original finish, victorb51. Skyler_mitchell is right about simpler methods, but old oak was often treated with linseed oil too.

skyler_mitchell22d ago

It's wild how many things get ruined by trying to make them "better" with new methods. You see it everywhere, from wood finishes to old buildings getting cheap siding slapped on. The original way was often simpler and just worked with the material, not against it. That plastic wrap look happens when people ignore what the thing actually is. Stripping it down and using shellac is like respecting the history instead of covering it up.