Calling Restorers, what is nitro cellulose laquer?

Thanks for the tips Neil,
I especialy like the one covering the stripper with glad wrap or foil.
and also the soap and hot water idea,
Wont hot water raise the grain so I,ll have to sand back?
With meths I find i have very little sanding to do( i hate sanding)
I do use quality stripper on particulaly tough jobs and the ecco friendly stuff is cr p.

I like to use meths on shellac because i think it gives a nicer strip especially if your trying to retain an old look and dont want to strip right back in the quirks and mouldings.on old kauri for instance.
Also if applied as i described with a cloth to reduce the evaporation, i find its not much slower than stripper, particularly as I dont have to neutralise or get rid if the gunge.
also i hate trying to get the stripper gunge out of the corners.
I have learned that my assumptions that it was all NCL was wrong and that will be a great help to assess the best way to strip before i start.
any thoughts about the white chalky effect?

Thanks,
Astrid:)

There are no photos so its a guess, but as others have suggested I'm suspecting grain filler.

Why don't you ask your Hubby, you said he was a chemical engineer dealing with solvents.

The word Lacquer was and still is used too broadly.

The word lacquer today means nothing, unless you know the type of lacquer your working or dealing with. Most coatings today use synthetic resins.

One coating that was not mentioned was the CAB coatings these are made from (Cellulose/Acetate/ Butyrate) This coating were commonly used in the 30 up and then into the 60's, it then fell out of favor, and made a come back about 15 years ago, These are a very good water clear coatings and are a good UV blocker . They also are an excellent white coating, and will not amber like nitrocellulose lacquer.

Both, the Acetone and the Meths solvents evaporate too fast, a good paste remover is the way to go if your stripping.