What shellac goes with which kind of wood?
That is the two million dollar question. This is a higly subjective area. Generally-speaking, lighter shellac looks good on lighter woods, unless you’re looking to bring out figure in woods like curly maple, in which case you’re probably going to use a dye stain under the shellac. Of course you can always use garnet to darken-up bland woods like alder, pine, yellow birch, etc. That’s why I have so many pictures in the customer gallery, so you can get an idea what other folks are doing, and what to expect. That’s also why I offer the mixed packages in as small a quantity as you want so you can experiment. Two of my favorite grades to use on red oak are (any one of) the buttonlacs, and/or dewaxed orange. It really brings out the red in the oak.
