I am currently preserving my family homestead of about 120 years. All the fir trim, (base, casing, plinths, rosettes, etc.) are in the original shellac finish. They had never been painted, thank God. Would cleaning them up, and giving them a new coat of shellac be the best finish? I am trying to keep the house as original as possible, but do not want it to be a museum piece. I do have two kids under the age of eight, and am wondering about the durability, although it has lasted this long…now on the fifth generation. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
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What is the condition of the finish? If its alligatored you can try to consolidate the finish with alcohol. Works well if the alligator is minor. If the alligatoring is major (I read that you can correct this problem by using a french polish process but it never worked for me) you can lightly sand and put a new coat of shellac or strip it with alcohol. Stripping with alcohol keeps the wood's patina. I would then refinish using shellac. Applying shellac can be difficult but using the right brush and a fresh mix will make a great finish (plus if you screw up you can level the surface by sanding and try again within two hours or remove it with alcohol and some paper towels (unfortunately beer does not work even though I tried to convince the wife that the more beer that I had the better the finish). I recently had some problems with shellac drying too fast and got some great responses in the FWW knots forum.