Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Determining Wood Finish

What is meant by "dissolves"? I applied a small amount of shellac thinner to the underneath of one of my antique tables to determine what type of finish is on the wood. Some of the finish came off on the cloth but the area where I applied the thinner is no longer distinguishable. My Furniture Finishing book indicates that "if the finish dissolves, the wood finish is shellac". Does "dissolves" mean that the finish comes off on a cloth or that the finish absorbs the thinner so it is indistinguishable? Therefore, is the finish shellac?

For the most part, the term dissolves means that a cloth dampened with the shellac thinner or wood alcohol will cause some of the finish to 'melt' and come off on the cloth. How much you removed from the piece of furniture would determine whether or not the tested portion appeared any different. The finish should form some degree of discoloration on the cloth where it adhered to the cloth after wiping the test area. The discoloration for shellac would likely be a slight orange in hue.

The presence of a small amount of the alcohol on the surface after wiping might be enough to enable the remaining finish to flow back out and thusly appear to be untouched.

In order to perform a more convincing test, you might dampen another cloth with alcohol and wipe a tad more vigorously in the inconspicuous location to see if the remaining finish is more obviously removed or changed. It is possible that what was removed by your experiment is wax. Otherwise, it seems that the finish on your antique is shellac.

Hope this helps.