Our client recently commissioned us to refinish a giant California Redwood Burl that he inherited. The 42x110x2.25 burl had been reclaimed and finished over 60 years ago. The old thick shellac finish was showing its age. Shellac cannot be sanded off as it gums up abrasives immediately so the slab had to get soaked with alcohol and scraped by hand to carefully shave off the layers of old top coat. Once the old finish was off, the slab was polished up to 1000 grit and finished with Odie's Oil.
After the refinish was completed our client decided to change course to use the piece as wall art and decided to have us hunt for a 2nd piece of Redwood burl to form a natural base. I found an old growth coastal Redwood burl root to match that will be arriving in Phoenix shortly.