There are some excellent books available on refinishing, a few published by
Fine Woodworking magazine in the USA. Shellac, BTW, can produce one of the
most beautiful of all finishes, and, yes, it is very labour intensive. But
_all_ good finishes are labour intensive to one degree or another. Unless a
person has a great deal of time, persistence and patience, all essential to
the art of high-gloss finishing, I'd pay some other mug to do it.

Cheers

Doug Rhodes