IIRC, you don’t want to build a thick finish with shellac.
My approach: Use dewaxed shellac to give the wood a warm tone and to seal it (I use zinsser sealcoat), then spray it with a waterborne finish. I really like crystalac super premium. It’s sold at mcfeely’s who has $1 shipping and is extremely durable. Super premium is spray only; they make another hard wearing finish called polyoxide. It’s not picky about how it’s applied. It’s also very durable. Recoat times are 30-60 minutes.
You’ll need to keep the finish area above 50* for 72 hours for full cure.
The lingering odor with oil based finishes is one of the main reasons I switched to crystalac.
-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.
