Many of us have heard about shellac over the years, but shellac itself is centuries-old, and has special properties that actually surpass some of the modern polyurethanes and coatings that are available today.

Well, believe it or not, Shellac is a product that is produced by a tiny red insect called a Laccifer Lacca. In fact, it takes over 100,000 insects to produce 1 lb of shellac resin. During certain seasons of the year, the Lac insect will propagate themselves. They consume tree sap from host trees, commonly called ‘lac trees’ and from the sap secrete a resin which hardens to protect their larvae. Eventually the tree branches get covered by this lac material.

To harvest Lac, India or Thailand natives take the branches that have this hardened coating, and bring them back to fairly primitive processing facilities where the lac is scraped or knocked off and ground with a hand cranked mill.

To purify the raw material from contaminates and impurities the lac is put through some extensive grinding and screening processes and a product called ‘seedlac’ is produced and has the appearance of dark red grain.
Making the seedlac into a usable product is also a fairly primitive process and involves putting the seedlac into a long round bag usually about 2” in diameter by 30 to 40 feet in length. Small sections of this bag are uniformly heated by slowly rotating them over a charcoal fire. The first worker holds the one end of the bag, and the other worker holds the hot end of bag and squeezes the molten lac through the pores of the bag. The first worker continues to pinch the bag by twisting it, consequently moving the lac down through the bag.

The worker lets the oozing shellac fall to the hearth floor, and it is occasionally picked up with an iron spatula, and placed back on the bag, basting it back and forth to get a viscous, uniform slab.
This resilient lac is then given to a worker called a bhilwaya, who then works it into thin sheets. With a strip of a palm leaf, he spreads the molten lac over a ceramic jar filled with hot water, and them pulls off a strip about 2’ x 2’ and a 1/2” thick.

The bhilwaya will then take the sheet, and as he stands before the fire, he will stretch it with his hands, feet and teeth to bring it to a sheet about 5’ x 4’. Then it is allowed to cool, and it is broken up into flakes.

Shellac has its origins back to 3000 years ago, but it did not make its way into European commerce and industry until the late 13th century, when Marco Polo discovered it along his historical journey to the orient.
Now one will obviously think that with modern technology, and chemical advances over the years that there are modern formulas that far surpass Shellac in performance. Well in some cases, this is the case, but the fact is, that Shellac has more modern features and benefits than any other wood finish.

Heres a few unique qualities about Shellac. And because of the nature of this product, and the cool story behind it, makes Shellac our finish of choice on our handcrafted humidors.

1. Its all-natural
2. Quick drying.
3. Unlike other finishes, Shellac can be applied in cold temperatures. Perfect for Canadian climates, where we craft our humidors in igloos. (No I am just kidding here).
4. Non toxic. The FDA has certified Shellac as a protective glaze for candy
5. Non yellowing, and non darkening, unlike oil based finishes.
6. Enhances the beauty of the wood and grain, without a plastic look.
7. Easy to touch up. If you happen to scratch your Vanderburgh Humidor, you can simply apply another coat of Shellac, and it melts right into the first one. Dont try this with Polyurethane!
8. Easy to clean up and remove. It dissolves with alcohol, and ammonia.

Well these are the reasons why we at Vanderburgh Humidors use Genuine Shellac to finish our handcrafted humidors. Not just for the qualities of the shellac, but for the fascinating story behind it. These extra features that make the difference between an ordinary humidor, and an extraordinary one indeed.

If you are more interested in reading about more in-depth information on Shellac, visit NaturalHandyman.

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