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.

A Note From Gregg

Hi — I'm Gregg.

I'm a hobby woodworker and woodturner, a lapsed-but-trying ukulele player, and a gardener who kills slightly fewer plants every year. Mostly I'm someone who fell for shellac the way a lot of you did — one finish at a time, until nothing else would do.

When Ron Ashby decided to retire after thirty-five years, I couldn't stand the thought of Shellac.net quietly disappearing. So I raised my hand. Not to change it — to keep it going.

Ron built something rare. For thirty-five years he answered the phone, knew his material cold, and earned the trust of finishers, restorers, luthiers, and french polishers all over the country. People didn't buy from Shellac.net because of advertising — there wasn't any. They bought because Ron was the real thing, and they told each other. That trust is the most valuable thing here, and I don't take it lightly.

So here's my promise, plain as I can make it: same shellac, same source, same care. It still comes direct from the same fifth-generation refining family, pure and uncut, the way it always has. The Merit burn-in sticks are still poured by hand, a color at a time, from recipes that go back nearly a century. What's behind the site is the same. I'd just like to be a good steward of it for the next stretch.

If you have a question — about a grade, a finishing problem, an order, anything — write to us and you'll reach a person. Probably me, or someone who works alongside me. We'll do our best to help.

Thanks for being here. I'm glad to be the one carrying this forward.

— Gregg