The pale counterpart to our Jethwa Dark — a wax-containing button for work where you want the wood to carry the color. Where Jethwa Dark runs deep and rich, the grade for walnut and finishes that want the shellac to add tone, Light Jethwa is the clear end of the same harvest: a noticeably paler dry button that builds a warm but restrained film and lets the figure underneath show through. Jethwa is the late-summer crop — gathered around June and July, mainly from the Ber, the wild plum, and occasionally from Kusum. It sits alongside the Kusmi buttons as a pale, period-correct shellac, with the seasonal character of its own harvest. Button lac is the historically authentic form of shellac — the one classical finishing texts describe, before dewaxed flake became the industrial default. It is partially dewaxed in the traditional way, squeezed warm through cloth bags, which leaves roughly two to three percent of the natural wax in the structure. The buttons are produced in small cottage operations, weighed and packed one bag at a time. Mixing notes: see the pound cut chart for dry weight per gallon, quart, and pint at the common working cuts. Sourced direct from a fifth-generation refining family in India who has supplied this bench since 1990. Pure, uncut, genuine.
