Cleaning goes a long way…

[Marco Gilardetti]

Doesn't denatured alcohol act as a stripper for shellac?

Jerry B.

In my opinion it doesn't really strip it in strict terms, but rather re-amalgamates shellac.

[alang]

Probably semantics, but I think it does both. If I wipe a shellac finish with denatured alcohol, it will dissolve and remove the shellac finish (= stripping). If I put denatured alcohol onto a flaking shellac finish, it will dissolve it but stay in place and dry there (= re-amalgamation). The latter is way more difficult than it sounds, especially if you cannot work with flat horizontal surfaces.

Wiping denatured alcohol on a shellac finish to clean it, as the OP describes, I would agree that this is more stripping than re-amalgamation.

JMO
Andreas