Kusmi #1 Button Lac

The historically authentic form of shellac. Wax-containing, cottage-produced, period-correct for French polishing and conservation work. From the highest grade our partners select for us each season.

Most commercial shellac sold today is a 20th-century industrial product — dewaxed, processed by methods that did not exist when classical finishing texts were written. Button lac is what shellac was for most of its working history, including all of the period those texts cover. The buttons are still produced by hand in small cottage operations, weighed and packed one bag at a time. There is no industrial substitute.

Mixing notes: see the pound cut chart for dry weight per gallon, quart, and pint at the common working cuts.

We carry the Kusmi #1 grade specifically because it comes from the Kusum tree itself and undergoes a hand-refining process that preserves the natural wax structure. The result reads warm honey in alcohol, builds with a few well-laid passes, and rubs out the way the old texts describe.

Sourced direct from a fifth-generation refining family in India who has supplied this bench since 1990. Pure, uncut, genuine.