Well....I've been working in the shop today on that sewing machine restoration project I took on for a friend of mine.

It has taken me several days just to reglue the veneers that are coming apart and gluing the broken pieces back on the "thang".!!

I have decided to take Denatured Alcohol to the finish and some 4 aught steelwool and strip the finish off of it since many places didn't have finish on them any longer. The finish topcoat is shellac for sure, I just don't know "which" shellac they used. I have to order shellac to put back on it and I need to figure out if it is Garnet Shellac or Blonde. The stuff I'm taking off appears to have a semi-dark ting to it. I don't know if its from age or the finish itsself. What bare wood I've found, it is white and there appears to be no stain what-so-ever on the entire piece.

As dark as it was, I'm wondering if I should go back with Garnet Shellac. With the topcoat gone, the exposed wood is fairly ugly, but when wiped with alcohol, it reappears to be nice with a brownish-red hue to it.

I plan on ordering the shellac and shellac retarder from Jeff Jewitt at Homestead Finishing. I thought that maybe 2 pounds of Garnet Shellac and 1 pound of Blonde Shellac should do nicely. I've never used Shellac in the flake form and have only used the shellac you get in the BB stores. Sherwin-Williams here doesn't carry nor can they get shellac, so I'm stuck with ordering the shellac and the Bekhol solvent for it.

Question: Should I use the solvent Behkol or can I just use the Denatured Alcohol I can get at the local BB stores? I have some of that and it appears to work nicely, but I've read somewhere that Behkol works much better for Shellac in flake form. Advice? Pointers? Recommendations?

Can I use household bleach and water to try and remove some of the water darkend stains in a few spots?