Advice on Finishing Top

[Zen]

Hopefully you will read this John, and anyone else who feels like chipping in with advise on finishing with shellac. I used what I would call the french polishing method although some might disagree but I'm still learning
I took your advise John and have now reached the stage where the dreadnought body looks pretty good after a shaky start and a lot of sanding and re coating and theres about 12 coats on it now and it actually looks pretty level and glossy.
When you come to the last coat or maybe second from last what method do you use to get to the buffing stage etc or do you use any products at this stage
I have actually achieved a nice gloss now and I'm a bit reluctant to go near it again in case I end up going backwards and ruining what appears to be a nice looking finish, but I believe from reading up on it that buffing helps harden the finish ? I do have some polishing compounds from stewmac and a small bench buffer with a 12" buffing wheel but thats about it.
I think I would prefer to do it by hand if there is some way instead of the buffer as I have limited experience using it.
Any tips appreciated and thanks to all who helped get me this far,
Rusty