Dan, I see your points, but disagree. The decals are exactly that...decals. If they were put on after the clear coat (shellac) you would have the edge ridges, ever so slight, but still there.
If you look at where the decals are most often missing, it's on the cross bar, where people either had a pin cloth wrapped around it and/or grabbed the machine to raise/lower in and out of the cabinet (or lift it for whatever reason), or on the bed where hundreds of yards of fabric passed.
Shellac can and does protect the decals and the finish on the machine. In most cases, I'm not a purist, but I'll stick with Skip's method. Shellac is extremely forgiving!!
