> I see one reason why it might not be advisable... shellac's relative
degree
> of inflexibility. When used on a material that is hard (wood, tightly
> stretched cloth) there shouldn't be any problem... but for something as
spongy as
> cork, I don't see how one could expect it not to craze, or even flake off
.
>
>
>
> John Thompson writes:
>
> > Harrumph. Real Men go out and catch the beetles themselves and render
> them down into shellac resin. :-)
>
>
>
> John, that's great if you want bug paste, but to get shellac you need to
> collect the secretions the lac beetles leave behind on trees.
>
> I've trained my beetles to secrete their resins directly onto my
furniture.
> Saves a lot of work, though my wife is not too pleased with all the bugs
in
> the house.
>
>
> Bob Hovey
> Columbus, GA
>
>
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>
Well, I tend to agree. I tried shellacing a crappy saddle once!! Not only did it look VERY weird, but it crazed like mad and started flaking off!!! Neill Currie Hillsborough, Nh.
I just can't stop beating this dead trivia horse, or mixing metaphors, so I
'll throw in more than my 2 cents about shellac. Of course the resin IS mad
e from the "secreted leavings" of the little beetles, not the bugs themselv
es. I only have used shellac on wood, though I once varnished some cork wal
l covering with an "inflexible" finish and since it was on a wall it suffer
ed no crazing or cracking for many years. I've seen cork flooring that's co
ated with "something hard", and that's got to be one tough application for
cork. I wouldn't coat a saddle with ANY varnish, though when I used to do l
eathercraft I used a Fiebrings product they called leather-lac or something
like it. It was a wipe-on "lacquer" intended to put a glaze on shoes, belt
s or handbags, and applied thin, it didn't crack or craze so that I ever sa
w. All the wood pieces I have ever had dealings with (many) have surprised
me with how much they contract and expand with changing temperature and hum
idity, it's almost like they are living things sometimes. So the finishes a
pplied HAVE to have some degree of flexibility, but the stresses are more g
radual, not like a leather bike saddle would be subject to. Varnishes like
shellac are among the oldest "hard" wood finishes and before nitro-cellulos
e lacquers suplanted them, these are the type of finishes applied to violin
s and other musical instruments, and those Strads were/are subjected to a l
oad of stress and vibration, that varnish really has to perform! (no pun in
tended) One outstanding property of even the cheapest, waxy shellac is that
it sticks to just about anything (except WAX), and can serve as a sealer o
r killer on pitch, grease stains, etc. and then overcoated with other varni
shes...usually flaking off is the last thing shellac will do: it sticks! Bu
t can easily be dissolved with pure alcohol, so it's pretty forgiving, that
is until you spill your drink on it. Lastly, the only guy who posted to ou
r list with a pic of his shellac-ed cork tape said he was happy with the re
sults...YRMV
Alan (I'm through, now) Goldsworthy
SF, CA