Our Story

Shellac.net is the U.S. specialist source for pure shellac. We have been at it since 1990.

The material

Shellac is a resin made by a small insect on the trees of India and Southeast Asia. People have used it for five thousand years. It sealed royal correspondence — many of those wax seals were shellac. It shows up in the oldest English wood-finishing book in print (Stalker and Parker, 1688). If you found us, you probably already know it.

Where ours comes from

Direct from a fifth-generation refining family in India. The relationship goes back more than thirty years. From hand-harvested resin in remote Indian forests, through small-batch refining methods passed down through generations, to us. Pure, uncut, genuine.

Most commercial button lac is cut with rosin to bring the cost down. Ours is not.

How Shellac.net got here

Ron Ashby started Shellac.net in 1990 and ran it for thirty-five years. Word spread the slow way — professionals found the site, told other professionals, came back. In 2026 Ron retired and the business changed hands. Same supplier, same grades, same standard. Operations moved from California to Virginia, and the community of finishers, restorers, luthiers, and french polishers — folks who suspect newer and faster isn't always better, ourselves included — keeps growing.

Merit burn-in sticks

We also make Merit burn-in sticks by hand — shellac and rosin, poured into steel molds a color at a time. The recipes go back nearly a century, through several pairs of hands. Period-correct chemistry for antique and instrument work. The recipes do not change.

A small operation, on purpose

Small team. Small catalog. One supplier, one family. Email us about a finishing problem and we will do our best to help. That is the shape of the business now, and that is the shape we want to keep.