It's possible it's shellac, but more likely lacquer.

Lacquer, like most finishes, degrades with age and UV exposure. You can sometimes soften old lacquer with alcohol.

How to "freshen it up?" A good cleaning would be first. See the link.

After that, you could apply some furniture wax, apply some more finish, either lacquer or shellac. You could spray, brush of wipe on any of these. Wiping would be with what's called "padding lacquer," that true to misleading labels on finish is generally shellac dissolved in solvents found in lacquer thinner.

A risk, if the piece has had exposure to Pledge furniture polish, is that the silicone oil in Pledge causes most finishes to crater, known as "fish eye." Shellac is one finish that is resistant to this, but go in a couple of light coats, sprayed on. You can buy Zinnser's Bull's Eye shellac in an aerosol can. One can would probably do the average "thingy." Though if it's a very large piece like a dining table, you might have difficulty getting it on evenly over such a large flat area.

Another possibility, not knowing exactly what your "thingy" is is that chronic exposure to some people's body oils can cause permanent degradation and softening of the finish. It doesn't sound that that's what you have, but just putting another coat of something on top is not going to fix the problem. Usually a good cleaning will remove the goo, sometimes down to bare wood. You see this a lot on the edge of desks, arms on chairs, and sometimes the crest rail on dining chairs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Saving the finish.

Thanks, Bob's nephew (niece?). It's this thingy, I guess a hutch.

It's more the golden orange color you see on all that indestructible midcentury maple stuff than it looks there. And it's less blotchy in person. On closer examimation, the finish on the door panels is pretty much shot. It feels thin and rough and has flaked off a bit. Elsewhere it's smooth.

So you wax before applying more finish? (My experience is limited to strip, sand, stain, varnish, sand, varnish, whine a little, sand, varnish, cuss, repeat.)

Don't wax before finish. It will create adhesion problems with many finishes.

Your refinishing schedule sounds about right.

Don't wax before finish. It will create adhesion problems with many finishes.

Your refinishing schedule sounds about right.

Its Shellac. they CALL IT ”Orange Shellac” for a reason basically anything you see from the late 50’s to rhe early 70’s with that telltale orange glow will be shellac lol

Bob's nephew had it right the first time. Color tells you nothing at all about the finish material. Lacquer (and pretty much any other clear finish) can be tinted to be any color the maker desires. Lots of pieces are colored to match the appearance of natural shellac.

Shellac is a wonderful finish, but had largely disappeard from use as the top coat on commercial furniture after the 1920/30's.