What is the difference between varnish and shellac?
Varnish is made from tree resin with some chemicals to make it dry faster and harder. Shellac is actually beetle-poop, a secretion from ‘lac producing insects’. Varnish is harder, more permanent, better for outdoors in the weather. Shellac can be ‘finer grained’, and is a little easier to handle. Shellac is also edible and is sometimes used as a shiny coating on hard candies and pills. Things like M&Ms, Jordan Almonds, and jelly beans are coated with shellac, just a very thin coat to make them shiny. For woodworking, shellac is easier to handle. It comes in flakes which you dissolve in alcohol. It goes on like water and dries quickly very hard. Varnish takes longer to dry and it’s ‘gummy’ all that time so it collects dust.
