So, what is shellac? It is the ground up wings of the shellac beetle
that have given their lives by the thousands so we can have nice shiny
pianos!

My father was shot up in WW2 (Australian Army) and spent a couple of
years in hospital.  They taught him woodworking and French polishing
as part of the re-habilitation process.  It taught him to have infinite
patience in the polishing process and it taught me (as a young boy)
many new expletives.

The process is, as others have explained, simply rubbing a shellac
soaked pad over the timber surface.  However, the end result depends
a lot on many hours of practice and developing a "skill" to be able
to do it well.  "Real" French polishing is one of those arts that is
practically lost in today's world.

My dad had a number of 1 pint (1/2 litre?) bottles of shellac.  I think
they varied in colour or perhaps viscosity.  He also had several cloth
pads that he kept in sealed wide neck jars (no plastic bags in those
days).  I seem to recall the shellac came in paper packets of flakes or
maybe it was a powder and Dad would mix it in linseed oil using a
mortar and pestle to grind the flakes into powder.  He'd then add more
oil and test on small pieces of sanded wood till he got the consistency
he wanted.  I wish I'd taken more interest.

Sadly his beautiful woodwork has been dispersed or destroyed over the
years.

Colin MacKinnon