Shellac has very little water resistance and is easily affected by oils from hands.

Dewaxed shellac is slightly better but still not very good in the water resistance.

Shellac dries very quickly.

Minutes to touch.
12 hours to complete.

It also takes multiple coats to build a decent thickness.

Stay away from alcohol denatured with methanol, gasoline, or any thing you do not want on your skin.

Super Blonds dewaxed shellac has the least color of shellac 'grades.'

Made from shellac flake is better.

Once dissolved shellac flakes commence going bad by polymerization that prevents hardening.

It takes a few months at least so saving leftovers os often not worth the effort.
Flakes last indefinitely dry.


Water based poly can be had perfectly clear or slightly tinted.

It makes a far tougher surface coating but has its own appearance problems and application issues.

And yes water or oil poly can take weeks to fully harden.

It is difficult to repair damage invisibly.

For a desk that will be used I would still use poly (likely oil base).

The slight yellow makes most darker hardwoods look better.

For a show piece shellac or even real nitrocellulose lacquer (Deft Clear wood finish in gloss).

What about Varnish?

Quick hijack, can anyone recommend a heavy duty polyurethane finish for a table that will see heavy use? Drying time is not an issue.

What is hugely important about shellac is how easy it is to repair.  If something damages the shellac, fixing it is no more difficult than apply some more and letting it dry.  If you want to buff it to match the surrounding, do so.  If you get a blob, sand the blob down and buff to match the surroundings.  Got a scratch, repair it.

It is fairly tough stuff, too.  My hall floor has been shellac-coated for about 5 years and still looks as good as new.

It is so easy to repair, I don't worry about damage.



Did I mention buffing?  I polished my floor using pumice and paraffin oil.  The semi-matte finish is awesome.

Oil finish.  

Check out Antique Oil.  

If scratched, all that is needed is to fix that spot.  

Varnish on the other hand requires sanding that whole face down.

Varnish and polyurethane varnish both have this disease.


Watco Oil is another good polymerizing oil finish.  These are suped-up versions of boiled linseed oil: a fully polymerizing (hardening) oil that penetrates then polymerizes.

The thing is, these do not build a film (nothing on the surface).  If you use a polymerizing oil, mixed with 25 to 50% shellac, you get the best of both worlds.  Tung oil can also be mixed with oil to provide a readily repairable finish.

Alone or mixed, the finishes have been around for centuries and are very easy to apply and maintain.

I can recommend pre-catalyzed spray lacquer from Sherwin Williams.

If you have a spray gun, that stuff dries super quickly...as in you can spray a second coat in 20 minutes. I often give a project 4-5 coats in a single day, let it cure over night, and give it a final polish the next day. Awesome stuff.

Our daughter left an alcohol wipe laying on an antique dining room table that had what is either tung or Danish oil on it. I repaired it with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil as it is what I had on hand. Looks great, dried quickly and holds up well. 

FPNI

Shellac will not absorb spaghetti sauce.    Use it alone, or mix with oil or on top of oil.

P.S. - Once dried, shellac is non-toxic.

I used shellac on my wooden kitchen backsplash.  it was already showing water permeation after one month, and I have since added three more coats.  We'll see how it holds up.

Apparently, I can't go back and poly it, as shellac is not compatible with poly.

I built a table and benches out of oak, for my kids to eat and do projects on, poly.  they still look great after 8 months.

POLY all the way.

Shellac is not a good kitchen finish.

Even dewaxed is not all that water resistant.

Rock Hard Table Top varnish is still around.
Behlen makes it.

The urethane is very close to the older version.

It is VERY tough stuff.

The major drawback is still curing time.

Grease can easily make a mess of a shellac finish also.

I'm a fan of General Finishes Seal-A-Cell followed by at least two coats of Arm-R-Seal (i use the high gloss and buff / rub to a satin finish if so desired).

once I used shellac for the first time I haven't used normal polyurethane since
I recently used water based polycrylic and really liked the results. dries super fast, can do additional coats in just a few minutes, and it built a nice glossy finish fairly fast. I've always hated the dry time of uethane and my impatience keeps me from doing as many coats of finish as I should
I'm probably going to alternate between shellac and polycrylic for now on unless I really need an oil based finish due to what might be coming in contact with the work. So far I've only used premixed shellac but I plan on mixing my own from flakes in the near future.

This is about a desk not a kitchen.  So, there is that consideration.

I agree shellac is easily damaged by several things in the home.  The thing is, it is super-easy to repair.  This contrasts sharply with varnish, polyurethane varnish in particular.  

I don't think I have any varnish in my finishing kit, at all.  Lacquers? Yes.  Varnish?  No.


Hmm,... OP, have you considered a clear lacquer?  It has all the benefits of shellac, including easy repairability and fast drying between coats but is more resistant to chemicals found in the home, including water.

Absolutely this.

I've put shellac down on 1800sqft of our floors so far. It's holding up great.

I've done one repair, which is convienient.

We lost part of our roof in a storm and water entered the house. The emergency response company from insurance didn't cover the floors during demolition of three rooms and a hallway. They assumed the water on the floors would require refinishing. In fact the floors not only didn't have any negative reaction to the water pooling but they actually held up really well to the demolition crew. We wiped them down and will simply hit them with an additional coat of blonde waxed shellac where screws were stepped on, scrapes were made, and we'll wax them for a nice shine

You can apply poly over dewaxed shellac but not waxed shellac. Actually if you have something with a waxed shellac finish you can use dewaxed shellac as a binder between it and poly if desired.

The second most durable finish is minwax spar urethane. It's suitable for a gloss finish on exterior exposed marine surfaces, like a sailing vessel bowsprit. For a thick nearly indestructable surface, you can get a 2 part epoxy product, under various brand names, that will produce a thick crystal clear plastic finish. It can be repaired perfectly no matter what by sanding the damaged spot and recoating. Stand by for ETA

ETA This stuff

Commercial bar top epoxy

While the shellacs, varnishes, and oil finishes mentioned above can be easily repaired, they are also easily damaged. For heavy use, this epoxy is best.

The epoxy coatings are all really, really thick.  They do not give a natural-looking finish.  They look as if the item has been encased in a thick plastic coating, as if they were entombed in amber or some such.  That product in particular claims to be 1/8" thick!

This is a serious/significant aesthetic difference from the thinner, natural finishes.

Still, I think it is a great option the OP should consider for a desk top.

That is true. I was going off of "heavy use". That stuff will take heavy use. I think it looks good, personally