Dewaxed ruby shellac flake. The red-toned grade of the dewaxed line — a ruddy, maroon-red where amber and garnet stay in the browns. The color for work that wants genuine red warmth, not another shade of amber. Ruby keeps the lac's own deep color. Like garnet, it is left dark on purpose — decolorised with washing soda and activated carbon only, never chemically bleached. The red is in the material, not added to it. Dewaxed flake is shellac with its natural wax separated out, nothing added to take its place. It dries hard and clear, dissolves without the cloudiness waxy grades leave in solution, and sits cleanly under and over other finishes, polyurethane included. Ruby is the grade for red-toned woods and warm restoration — cherry, red-cast mahogany, and antique films with a red in them. Worked thin it lends warmth; built up it reads frankly red, closer to a toning shellac than the pale grades. A grade the bench carried for years and is bringing back. Sourced direct from a fifth-generation refining family in India who has supplied this bench since 1990. Pure, uncut, genuine.
