Thread: Glass on top of shellac finish?

We have an old dining table from my wife's grandparents with a shellac finish and a glass sheet on top and it shows no sign of ill effect.

THanks Dinosaur, te sideboard is now in the house with the glass ready for installation tomorrow. Nice flame mahogany drawers and doors

Only 90% complete as I still have some scratches to repair but at least out of the many items I have on the go this old unit has a new lease on life in our lounge room. The glass certainly seemed to cause no problems on the reconditioned top that was badly scratched when I started.
IMG_1961.jpg

Looking good!

It probably wouldn't have hurt to give it a coat of wax as well.

My thought being, if anything stuck to the glass (pressure over time) the wax layer would be easier to break. I could be completely wrong about this, of course...

Some years ago I worked for the Australian branch of an old English company and, as such, the head office here was a mimic of the English mahogany row HEAD OFFICE! When the boss was away one day, we took the opportunity to change the light over his HUGE mahogany desk. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the sparky dropped his pliers right on the middle of the glass desk top and smashed it. THAT’S what could go wrong!
We had, from memory, 3 days to fix it. The local glazier was quickly on the scene, measured up and promised the glass in 2 days. We found a French polisher who turned up with that typical ‘far away’ look of most people who work with metho (?), and he started work straight away. He was still filling and polishing when the glass turned up 2 days later and he and the glazier were both adamant that the glass could not go straight onto the French polish if it had not “cured for at least a month”! Their solution, which seemed pretty well rehearsed, was to prise the thin cork seal out of the crown seals on beer bottles, place one near each corner and one in the centre hidden under the ink well. (For our younger readers, I will describe what an inkwell is in another thread!)
The Boss got back as planned and I hovered around in case. After a few minutes, the ROARING started. Some ducked for cover but I stood my ground. He burst out of his office with a face purple with rage! He strode up to me, stared straight at ME ......... and demanded to know WHO had been drinking beer in his office !

The moral of this story is that the old timers reckon you shouldn’t put glass on French polish for at least a month and aspiring execs shouldn’t drink beer in the bosses office ...... without the boss?
fletty

REally enjoyed that