Removing shellac

[Michael Titus]

I'm trying to refinish an old saw handle. I tried removing the old shellac by soaking the handle in denatured alcohol, but this left a white, dusty residue behind. Repeated soakings in fresh alcohol removed some of the white, but mostly just wasted alcohol. Is there an easier way to strip old shellac?

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[Glen Butler]

Bix Stripper strips pretty much anything, then cleans up with warm water.

[Jerome Hanby]

I clean up brushes after applying Shellac with household ammonia. Wonder if that would work any better?
Bix Stripper strips pretty much anything, then cleans up with warm water.

[Jim Finn]

sand paper?

[Paul Saffold]

It might be lacquer. Shellac dissolves easily in fresh denatured alcohol.

[Bruce Page]

It might be lacquer. Shellac dissolves easily in fresh denatured alcohol.

That's what I was thinking.

[Russell Sansom]

Ammonia dissolves shellac as if it weren't there. One of my favorite characteristics of shellac...it's so easy to wash out the brushes.

I'm not an expert, but I rather doubt an original saw handle is shellacked. Varnish would be much more likely, wouldn't it?

[Carl Beckett]

I might start with a couple scrapers. I find the more brittle finishes like shellac, or laquer even, come off with a scraper pretty nicely and leaves a better surface (some of the chemical strippers really do a number on the surface of the wood, and then I have to scrape anyway.

[Nicholas Carey]

It might be lacquer. Shellac dissolves easily in fresh denatured alcohol.+1 If pure alcohol (methanol or ethanol) and not rubbing alcohol won't dissolve it, it's not shellac.

[phil harold]

Minwax® Antique Furniture Refinisher will work