Shellac

Shellac is an animal product. The basic material comes from the Coccus lacca, a scale insect that feeds on certain trees in India and southern Asia. After feeding, the insect produces through its pores a gummy substance which hardens into a protective covering called lac. This lac is collected and then it is crushed, washed and dried. After furthure treatment, it Shellacis skillfully drawn into thin sheets of finished shellac. Many products such as phonograph records, sealing wax, fireworks, and electrical insulators and instruments have shellac in their composition. When mixed with alcohol, shellac forms a type of durable finish. Soon after the scale insect is hatched, it leaves its birthplace and begins to wander about, looking for a likely place to settle down. It finds this place at last upon a stem or a leaf or the outside of a fruit. It inserts its sharp little beak in the tissue and then settles down for a lifetime of sucking at this particular spot.

It is soon covered by a substance that it secretes or gives forth from its body - a substance that in certain species looks like wax, in others like cotton, in still others like powder. The growing insect sheds one skin after another; these skins form a rounded little scale, held in place by the secreted substance.

The Book of Knowledge by the Grolier Society, 1951

Shellac is a natural resin secreted by insects, called lac bugs, which attach themselves to certain trees in and around northern India. (The word "lac" means "one hundred thousand," referring to the number of insects found on a single branch. Approximately 1.5 million bugs must be harvested to make 1 pound of shellac.) The resin is scraped from the twigs and branches of the trees. It's then melted, strained to remove bug parts and other foreign matter, and formed into large thin sheets that are broken up into flakes and shipped around the world.

Shellac's solvent, denatured alcohol, is not as polluting to the atmosphere as mineral spirits or lacquer thinner, and it is not harmful to you unless you drink it or breathe excessive amounts of it.

Understanding Wood Finishing, by Bob Flexner, 1994 Rodale Press

Note:

After the shellac reaches the US it is further refined and graded. Shellac must be fresh. It will not harden properly if it is more than a few months old. We advise to never buy shellac pre-made at a hardware store as you can never be certain of its age. I buy shellac from www.shellac.net.