Need to give a shellacing

I am the proud owner of the incredible Vince Brennen wrapped wheel.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...-Wrapped-wheel

Strider may be old and scruffy but she is going to have a helm that would make the owner of a new Hinckley envious.

I have a friend who is a retired Navy watch officer and I like the idea of his coming aboard and seeing a wheel that brings back memories. As I understand it, the recipe is two coats of first cut one pound shellac followed by a good spar varnish.

However, I went to the art store so I could get help sorting through the shelf of all the cuts and pounds and they said, "We don't sell shellac anymore. No one uses it. They all use polyurethane."

There is shellac at the Benjamin Moore store, two kinds, clear and amber. But, nothing on the can about cuts or pounds. Am I safe using that stuff, I would presume the amber for the tea color I understand the navy favored or should I wait and thy and hunt down something that says "first cut one pound" on the can.

Have all the artists gone to poly for reasons I should be considering?

I really don't want to screw this up after the incredible amount of work Vince put into it.

Shellac is a wonderful product but be careful with storebought shellac. It has wax in it and the recoat with varnish could be a disaster.
You need to find dewaxed shellac

Thanks,

This is very interesting:

http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/...cles_574.shtml

Zinnser is pretty good stuff but check the date on the can and definitely use de-waxed. If you put the wrong stuff on a piece of wood you can sand it off and start over but I don't think you want to be sanding that nice wheel of yours.
You can buy shellac flakes here and cut your own so you know it's fresh and the cut you want.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2080...ac-Flakes.aspx

Drift ... I use quite a bit of shellac. My favorite is "L'Orange" flakes.
Introduced to it at a young age as a sanding sealer for finish coats, my education progressed to an appenticeship restoring antique furniture i.e. french polish. French polish shellac may be the most beautiful finish there is because of it's thinness I think. Applied using a "rubber" consisting of the "hair of the beast" (wool) wrapped in Linen cloth through a few drops of the "oil of the flower" (olive oil) as a lubricant.

I learned much about hammer veneer work and shellac finishes from an old Norwegian master, Soren Bakken. And he learned in a shed in Norway that was powered by a blinded horse in the basement. There was a little bell by the powered tools. "One bell she vould go, Two bells she vould stop".
Soren was a genius - He enlisted in the US Navy during the second world war and was quickly tested and promoted as far as was practical given his lack of formal education He had many US patents awarded during his career and after his immigration and eventual citizenship. When well into his eighties he was still restoring compasses and pocket watches as a hobby. It was my great fortune to know this man.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John How

I don't think you want to be sanding that nice wheel of yours.

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Whew. Am I glad I asked.

Shellac will always wash off with alcohol if you botch it.

Roger, I can tell ye all ye need to know. First about shellac. It's all pretty much the same, although some commercial types sold for furniture finishing do have some wax additives. What you want is just plain old shellac.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...KL._AA160_.jpg

"Bulls Eye® Shellac is an alcohol-based solution of pure lac, a natural resin secreted by tiny insects on certain trees, mainly in India. It is available in Clear and Amber. Both dry to transparent films - the Clear has a faint, golden cast that is much lighter than oil-base finishes, while the Amber has a warm, orange cast that gives a rich, antique-look to woodwork. Bulls Eye® Shellacs are manufactured using technology developed by Zinsser in over a century's experience. They are uniform in quality, unmatched in shelf life, and packaged for convenience of use. All-natural Bulls Eye® Shellac has many of the great performance characteristics of today’s synthetic clear finishes: In an age of fast-drying products, few finishes dry as fast as shellac. Shellac is user-friendly and virtually goof-proof. It can be applied with a brush, pad, sprayer, or wiping cloth. No elaborate instructions are needed, good results are almost guaranteed, and mistakes are easily corrected. In spite of all the wonders of 21st century clear finish chemistry, there is still no other finish that enhances the depth and natural beauty of wood grain like shellac. Wood that has been finished with shellac looks soft and natural, not plastic-coated. The finish will not yellow or darken with age like polyurethanes, and it’s simple to maintain. In a time when more and more consumers prefer finishes that clean up with soap and water, shellac brushes can be cleaned in all-purpose household detergents or household ammonia and warm water."

"Bulls Eye" is the oldest premixed shellac made in the USA. You can buy shellac flakes in the top end woodworking catalogs, as well. These flakes are dissolved in alcohol to make shellac. Natural shellac is amber colored, sold as "amber' shellac or "orange" shellac, which are pretty good descriptions of its color, although more about that later. "White" or "clear" shellac is simply shellac flakes with most all of the natural amber color bleached out of them.

While the product literature suggests clean up with soap or amonia, I prefer alcohol for the first brush rinse, if I'm not just tossing a cheap brush afterwards. When I'm doing a fair amount of shellacing continuously over a period of time, such as in my model building, I just keep the brush in a closed container of alcohol, which would quickly evaporate otherwise. Shellac dries so quickly that over time you will find it coagulating up at the ferrule, so frequent rinsing in alcohol eliminates this sticky mess. (This is also why our mothers used to go crazy when somebody would put an alcoholic beverage glass on their fine French polished table tops!)

Now, the Zinsser "Bulls Eye" and other premixed brands are pretty "low cut" shellac mixes. The "cut" refers to the amount of flake to a gallon of alcohol. "One pound cut" is a pound to the gallon and so on. Shellac is a resin that cures hard and the "cut" makes it wonderfully versatile. Shellac is also one of the best water repellant coatings around. Shellaced muslin was formerly used as bedding between double and triple planked boats. That was probably as much as a five pound cut, which gets pretty goopey. The stuff sold today is about the consistency of milk, although if you leave a can open for a while, the alcohol will evaporate and the shellac in the can will thicken. (Obviously, if this happens, you just put a little more alcohol in it and it thins right down.) For impregnating fancy work, you want a light cut. Bulls Eye right out of the can is just fine, so for your purposes, you don't have to worry about three or five pound cuts.

Now, for fancy work, you can use either white or orange shellac, depending on your preference. My preference for shellacing traditional cotton fancy work is orange shellac. White shellac produces a result looking something like the basic color of the cotton cord, but it enhances any color imperfections (flecks and such) in the cord and looks, well, "unfinished." I have seen some work in synthetic cord, which has much better color consistency, as well as work done in synthetic colored cord where the color contrasts highlight the knotting (e.g. coachwhipping) where a clear shellac or polyurethane coating worked to good advantage. However, for a truly traditional look, orange shellac is what you want.

Now, when you put the first coat on your fancy work, the shellac will soak in deeply. In fact, what you are aiming for is not a coating, but a real impregnation of the fancy work through and through. What you are making is a resin (shellac) impregnated product, much like the amber colored micarta board used in old electronics equipment (shellac is a non-conductor). You really want to soak it in all the way on the first coat. Once that coat is dry, not much will get past it. Cotton cord rots quickly. If you've only coated the top of it, your fancy work will soon rot from the inside out and fall apart.

Don't freak out when your fancy work looks, well, orange, after the first coat! Once the first coat is applied, continue applying coats of shellac. Each coat will darken the color and after a number of coats, it will become a beautiful honey brown. I prefer to use only shellac, unless I specifically want a particular color. If you want white, or any other color, apply a couple of good coats of shellac and then a good enamel paint. If you want the real old fashioned look, just keep adding shellac coats until it is a nice shiney dark brown. (It won't get shiney and looking like it was varnished until several coats have built up.)

Do not varnish over fancy work or try to substitute some synthetic product for shellac. The varnish won't last and it's pretty much impossible to strip and refinish, given the surface of the fancy work. Same problem with polyurethanes... stripping when eventually necessary will destroy the fancy work.) Paint poses a similar problem, except that paint covers a multitude of sins, unlike varnish, so repainting isn't as much of a problem. If you use paint, figure that at some point it's going to build up to where there's nothing for it but to cut, scrape and chisel the fancy work off the piece and start all over again.

Herein lies the beauty of using only shellac. Exposed to air and sunlight, the shellac will eventually dry out, dull and, if thickly applied, even crack. No problem! Simply wipe it down with alcohol and apply another coat and you're in business again. Even when you have a huge build up of shellac on a piece of fancy work, you can soak it in alcohol (or if attached to something inconvenient for soaking, you can wrap it in towelling and soak the toweling in alcohol repeatedly to get the same softening effect.) Once the alcohol hits it, it will dissolve. (BTW, the shellac that dissolves in the alcohol can be reapplied as, yep, shellac... wonderful stuff... perpetually recycleable.) When the excess build up is removed, you can just put on another coat.

If, perchance, you try laying on orange shellac and don't like the "antique brown" look, you can always simply paint it white and no one is the wiser.

If you are going the shellac route, buy a quart can, which is a lot cheaper than smaller lots. It has an indefinite shelf life and, if it thickens, you can always thin it with alcohol. There is no more forgiving coating. It sinks in and dries extremely fast. Brush strokes and runs are not ever a problem. It also makes a very good sealer over bare wood. I use it extensively for sealing small wooden parts in modeling because it does not build up as much as other sealers, thus preserving the detail of small parts, and prevents movement due to humidity changes, which can destroy a model. And, of course, I use it on my fancy work. If you have a source of 190 proof grain alcohol to cut your shellac, I suppose you can even drink it... but don't take my word on that.

Try it. You'll like it! Shellac is our friend!

Roger,
You can buy shellac flakes at Woodcraft Supply. Cut refers to the ratio of shellac to alcohol. I suspect googling shellac cut would give you what you need to know to make the "cut".
Dave

Bob, that was a succinct education, thank you.

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Originally Posted by Bob Cleek

Shellac is our friend!

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Why aren't people using this on teak brightwork? It sounds like the finish everyone has been looking for. I've got everything covered with that horrible Bristol Finish.

Ok, just my 2 cents. I've used shellac for years. Mostly Fr polish on furniture. I mix my own because supposedly it goes bad after about 6 months. About a year ago, I posted a similar thread. I decided to do some tests. My position was this:
First, I was cautioned by an older woodworker that it would be ruined by moisture or a wet glass.
I shellacked a scrap and observed no damage from a wet glass, or 1/2 full beer can after 3 days.
An OLD waterman told me one time that they used shellac for topside work on their boat. I thought he was, well, ignorant, or maybe he just used "shellac" as a generic term for clear varnish. Who knows.
I put orange shellac (was available from Woodcraft Supply, Now it's called "Tiger Flakes") on an offcut of Mahogany and threw it in my slack tub ( whiskey barrel full of water which faces SE). It was absolutely beautiful for about 6 months. It even sealed the endgrain, soaking in water and in the sunshine.
It then did turn white, really white and flaky, the wood beneath had turned grey.
I took it out of the tub about 2 weeks ago, just to let it dry, as it had gotten watterlogged. I'm gonna try to "refinish" it this week, if I remember.
I used it to seal faying surfaces between oak, using Interlux boatyard bedding compound, ( again, just scraps) left it sitting on a windowsill for 4 or 5 months and I don't know if it failed or the bedding compound is crap, but the compound basically turned to dust.
So, I don't know what to tell you.

Roger,

What Mr. Cleek said. I love shellac, and use it frequently for a variety of chores. I'll add that one phone call to the Zinsser tech folks, and a good bit of chivvying, elicited the information that their "Seal-Cote" - which they market as a clear sanding sealer - is about a 1.5 lb. cut. Their "Clear" and "Amber" are about 2.5 lb. cuts.

There are several reasons that shellac is not used for every finishing application. First, as mentioned, it melts when alcohol is spilled on it. While that fact can be taken advantage of... it's not great for everyday use. Also, that's not the only chemical that shellac doesn't hold up to. Another thing is that shellac is not that abrasion-resistant by itself. Less so than even the most basic nitro-cellulose lacquer, let alone catalyzed lacquers, polyurethanes, or acid-catalyzed hi-tech finishes like conversion varnishes. I don't recall how shellac holds up to UV exposure - and don't have my reference books handy to look it up. I've never seen it have problems... but can't really say for sure. Might be an issue for full-time outdoors exposure.

In comparison to spar varnish, shellac has another drawback. It's far more brittle. It won't stand up to impact as well, nor will it move with the expansion and contraction of the wood under it that is exaggerated in a marine environment.

Another thing that's nice about shellac that hasn't been mentioned so far is how well it works in combination with other finishes. I used to spray some water-based lacquer for one client who insisted on it. One of the problems with this topcoat is that it imparts no color or depth. It doesn't LOOK like a finished piece of wood. There is no inherent amber color, and the component molecules of the finish are quite large - hence no penetration/depth. If, however, one uses shellac as the sanding sealer, you start with color and very good penetration. The subsequent water-based topcoats then look pretty decent.

The same is true of some of the hi-tech finishes. They are what's known as "water white" - meaning they don't impart any ambering. This is great for maple or white ash, or select white birch, or holly... but not so pleasing to the eye for most woods. Shellac as sanding sealer does the trick. It's interesting that most of the tech reps can't assure you that their hi-tech goop will work with shellac. None of them even think to test it. I've been cautiously experimenting for many years now, and haven't seen anything come out that is incompatible with a first coat of shellac.

Which brings up another great characteristic of shellac. It makes a very good Barrier Coat. If you want to use a stain that is technically incompatible with the topcoat you are planning on... most times one can seal the stain (once thoroughly dry) with a couple coats of clear shellac... then topcoat away. I've only had shellac fail me as a barrier coat one time in over 30 years. That was a surface that was heavily contaminated with silicone.

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Originally Posted by David G

What Mr. Cleek said.

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Yes, and many thanks to both of you.

Do you think I should put spar varnish on top of the shellac on the wheel? It sounds like it would hold up a bit better. OTOH with the shellac alone, I can fix it easier. I have an Origo stove and the fuel I buy for it from the hardware store says, "Shellac Thinner" right on it. I could just carry a bag of the flakes and I would be ready to refinish my wheel anytime I needed to.

Agreeing with Mr. Cleek - NO VARNISH OVER SHELLAC. It ruins the advantages of shellac and won't stick anyway for many of the same reasons that oil paint is not happy over latex.

Where we disagree is that I have had great happiness with varnish goobers on wheels, almost like you'd slush a served stay. It can be old varnish. Thin more than 50% for the first soaking coats and gradually move to thicker varnish as the fibers absorb it. The problems with this are that it's much more tedious to apply and it's hard to prevent drips as you get near the end. All in all, plain shellac is more suitable as it's so very easy to maintain and repair and it gets niftier looking with age.

G'luck

I'd agree that the plain shellac would likely be my choice for your application. A small quibble, though. I have to disagree about spar varnish sticking to shellac. It sticks just fine, and I have used that combination many times for interior applications.

Live and learn. I never had good luck with anything over shellac but probably I did some prep wrong. No matter. In this application shellac's ease of maintenance makes keeping it as the sole material is the way to go.

* Once again - store bought shellac is not dewaxed. It is available, you have to search a bit.

I have painted and varnished over shellac and had no problems. A hundred years ago it was the painters standard for sealing knots and other blemishes from bleeding through before painting. I have seen archival images of Maine built schooners on the ways with big blotchy heavy cut shellac patches ready for paint on the deck houses etc.
A few years ago I was refinishing the (painted) wainscotting in our family home (Maine) and found shellac under the paint on the all the knots. (until then I thought it was all clear wood!)

Unless it is clearly marked on the can "dewaxed" you will have probems with any topcoat other than more shellac. Zinser does make a shellac primer that is dewaxed, but it has white pigment added. It might be fine for your fancywork - that was commonly painted white.
Shellac will disolve itself. I keep a couple of designated shellac brushes and don't even clean them just let it dry on the brush. about 15-20 minutes in the can will soften it right back up.

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Originally Posted by Canoeyawl

Unless it is clearly marked on the can "dewaxed" you will have probems with any topcoat other than more shellac.

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So this is waxed, right?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...KL._AA160_.jpg

However, it sounds like just sticking with plan shellac so I can easily refinish is the best option for the wheel. In that case, it doesn't matter if there is some wax in the Bulls Eye stuff anyway.

Right?

I think that might work out just fine. Just don't handle the wheel and a Martini at the same time :d

This may sound heretical but during my years in the nav' I never saw the boatswains mates shellac anything. Rails, wheels, columns that got covered with turks heads and wrapped where painted white.I forget the formula number.

Ted

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Originally Posted by Tobago

Rails, wheels, columns that got covered with turks heads and wrapped where painted white.

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Well, even if I was misinformed, I like the idea of dark brown better than white paint. I have a dim memory of being aboard a navy vessel in a museum long ago and seeing a dark brown destroyer wheel. Maybe they did wheels differently because so many hands touched them?

I believe a lot of just goes to keeping it simple and preserved. If you could take time lapse pictures of a captains gig, the first day out of the yards it would have some areas of bright work and in succeeding pictures you'd see less varnish and more paint. The rope work on the bridge, the pilot house, quarterdeck and signal bridge was easy to keep clean with a coat of paint and simple to renew with a fresh coat of paint.

Personally, I'd like a coat of varnish on a nice wheel like that. Remember though the credo of the Boats': If it moves salute it, if it don't, paint it.

Excelsior,
Ted

I use a lot of shellack in my conservator work for French Polish. I still use it as a sealant under varnish for some marine work. Sealing the interior of a spar is a must for shellack. I used to use it on fancy work but, now I prefer to use clear artists polymer finish on whippings and macrame. I use the matt finish product as it does not produce a cheap shine.
Jay
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9...D720/ry%3D480/

Zinsser Bullseye out of the can used to be "3 pouind cut", maybe perfect as is for your application. Just let it dry thoroughly prior to topcoating. The shellack is just to seal the fibers up, not to build up a finish. The kind of wax involved is negligible and willnot interfere with the bond of the paint over shellac in the cording. Just apply the shellack in one thin pass and dont continue washing on aheavier application. Leave plenty of "tooth" for the finish coats.

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Originally Posted by Bob Triggs

Zinsser Bullseye out of the can used to be "3 pouind cut", maybe perfect as is for your application.

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I hope so. I just bought a can. The fellow at the paint store didn't think it had wax in it and none is listed on the ingredients. However, the lac isn't either. I'm going to thin it with alcohol for the first coat to be sure it really penetrates. Since the stuff sounds very forgiving, I'm going to try it with nothing on top. If it isn't holding up the way I like, I'll wipe down with alcohol, re-shellac, and varnish. I'll post some pictures before long.

I'm pretty sure the Zinser stuff is Not dewaxed. I learn the hard way and had a significant failure using Zinser out of the can as a sealer under oil paint thinking we might save a little time - Big mistake.
You might want to call them and ask.

Try a search for "Dewaxed Shellac"

From Wikipedia.

Shellac naturally contains a small amount of wax (3%-5% by volume), which comes from the lac bug. In some preparations, this wax is removed (the resulting product being called "dewaxed shellac"). This is done for applications where the shellac will be coated with something else (such as paint or varnish), so that the topcoat will be able to stick. Waxy (non-dewaxed) shellac appears milky in liquid form, but dries clear.

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Originally Posted by Canoeyawl

Big mistake.

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I sure don't want to do that:).

I'm not planning any top coat at this point. I'll just wipe it down with stove fuel (mine says "Shellac Thinner" on the can) and put more on if it gets to looking worn. Do you see anything wrong with that plan using the Zinser?

Gentlemen, I must take issue with the idea of shellacking any object that will be exposed to the elements. Unless top coated with a proven clear coat, it won't last!
Jay

I am a wood floor contractor. We have been using Zinsser SealCoat (dewaxed shellac)for a sealer under varnish,oil based and water based polyurethane for about eight years with no adhesion problems.

This sealer is especially good for use as a barrier coat on existing finishes to be recoated. It is not intended to be used as a topcoat exposed to weather or other harsh environments.

Lowes stocks the Zinsser SealCoat and Home Depot stocks the same product under the name ProFinisher Universal Sealer.

http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=246

Wow.

Everyone weighed in on this one! Some really great information in there!

When I was a young BM3 in charge of the paint locker on an AD, we kept paper bags of coloured ( rose, orange, "clear" [which really wasn't...]) lacs and would routinely do a 4oz/1 qt alcohol mix and call it "a one pound cut". I thought it superb for ropework as it would penetrate well, give an even colour base and dry fairly quickly to allow the next coat or a finish varnish coat. Try tho I might, I cannot remember if we thinned the "Varnish, Spar, US Navy, MarkIV, General Purpose" or put it on direct from the can....

The end result was to achieve a dark mahogany colour with the "three foot finish" depth. I never did get it "right" but I got close.

..........................................

This was probably put on around 1946-1950 and has been on the rail ever since. It was on the companionway rail from "Officer's Country" (under the foredeck) up to the Main Deck so it wasn't used as much as some other rails:

Aboard MV Zuni-Tamaroa (Ex USCGC WMEC 166 TAMAROA, Nee USS ZUNI ATF-95)

http://www.frayedknotarts.com/images.../100_3419L.jpg



Then there was the type of work that was painted, either for a reason or because some deck ape Chief just got lazy when the old varnish chipped off. This is on the rail from the Radio Room to the Bridge and got a LOT of use, painted black for some reason and used like crazy. I'd love to know just how many hands have slid across these surfaces.

Spanish Coxcomb in cotton line (probably a #36).

http://www.frayedknotarts.com/images...i/100_3431.jpg

Roger,

The only dewaxed shellac in a can in zinzer's clear coat; the other have wax and color. I use them all and only topcoat with the clear coat if I want to use polyurethane over top, or if I want a lighter color. Despite what Bob says, all shellac has a shelf life once dissolved. The Zinser products are clearly labeled for drop dead dates and last for 2-3 years.
Rick
'

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Originally Posted by landlocked sailor

The only dewaxed shellac in a can in zinzer's clear coat; the other have wax and color.

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Anybody need a can of Zinsser Amber? :)

Here's a question: Will a non-wax Shellac stick on a waxed ones one like the Zinsser Amber? I like the color of the can I have (as well as the 15 bucks I spent on it). If I used that to soak into the ropework, could I then put on a barrier coat of the Zinsser clear coat and follow up with spar varnish? I would think a very textured surface like this rope work would be more forgiving of adhesion than a smooth wood panel.

Here's a picture of the wheel in question:

http://hphotos-snc6.fbcdn.net/219768...6_164231_o.jpg

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Originally Posted by Roger Long

Anybody need a can of Zinsser Amber? :)

Here's a question: Will a non-wax Shellac stick on a waxed ones one like the Zinsser Amber? I like the color of the can I have (as well as the 15 bucks I spent on it). If I used that to soak into the ropework, could I then put on a barrier coat of the Zinsser clear coat and follow up with spar varnish? I would think a very textured surface like this rope work would be more forgiving of adhesion than a smooth wood panel.

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Yes and yes. I believe too much is being made of the waxed vs. dewaxed issue. If you want another perspective - more authoritative - call the Zinnser tech folks.

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Originally Posted by Jay Greer

Gentlemen, I must take issue with the idea of shellacking any object that will be exposed to the elements. Unless top coated with a proven clear coat, it won't last!
Jay

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Absolutely true. However, it is very easy to lay on another coat, as I mentioned above.

As for "wax," this is the first I've ever heard of it being a problem. Perhaps that is true if one is doing a table top or some such, but I've been soaking fancy work in shellac and, in many cases, painting over it, and have never, ever, had any adhesion problems at all.

This is the dewaxed Zinser product - From their website

CLEAR B-I-N® Sealer is the ultimate odor blocker for interior surfaces. It eliminates the toughest odors from food, kitchen grease, mold and mildew, pet urine, fire and smoke damage, and cigarette and cigar smoke. The de-waxed shellac formula is clear - leaving surface appearance unchanged - and is compatible with all topcoats.

edit to add; fromZinser - sanding sealer another clear dewaxed formula


(They make a note that it is an interior product).

Roger, The work on that wheel is truly stunning!
Jay

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Originally Posted by Roger Long

I hope so. I just bought a can. The fellow at the paint store didn't think it had wax in it and none is listed on the ingredients.

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Nobody adds wax to shellac -- it contains naturally occurring waxes. The wax isn't a problem with shellac-on-shellac applications as shellac acts like lacquer (where do you think the name comes from?). Previous coats simply dissolve into each successive coat. There's no bond between layers because there are no layers. Wax in shellac is I think highly overrated as a problem. The problems people report are very occasional ones where they topcoat a shellac undercoat with modern high-tech waterborn or polyurethane finishes (and I suspect that that is more operator error than a wax problem).

Most of the dewaxed shellac that's available is "white" shellac, though you can get pretty the entire gamut in dewaxed from http://www.shellac.net/ShellacPricing.html

Shellac.Net is run, I believe, by Paddy O'Deen, one of the original Internet galloots from USENET's rec.woodworking (aka wreck-the-woodwork). He's got about every variety of flake shellac you can imagine.

FWIW, shellac is a time-honored finish for cloth handlebar tape on bicycles. Add a turks' head or two to make it nice and you get a sweet ride:

The link and the picture below are from Velo Orange, run by Chris Kulczycki, who founded Chesapeak Light Craft (kit kayaks) some years back. Velo Orange has small quantities of flake shellac available, too.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_C1XrRVl3W8...1600/shel5.jpg

Also works well on cork handlebar grips and coachwhipping:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/...d16bbabf_o.jpg

http://www.rideyourbike.com/images/c...hellacbars.jpg

I mix the flakes just eyeballing the color and slather it on chisle handles, saw handles, plane wood and I have about 40 coats on an old Gerstner knockoff machinists chest. If I were you I'd wrap whatever vince used around a tube and try the bullsneye products. The color may surprise you. It's great stuff mixed from flakes but the stuff in the can is ok by me. Never occurred to me to use it on cordage.

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Originally Posted by troutman

If I were you I'd wrap whatever vince used around a tube and try the bullsneye products. The color may surprise you.

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I did that this afternoon and the color is just about perfect. I thinned it 50% for the first coat and it soaked right in. This is after the third coat and still just slightly tacky.

http://hphotos-snc6.fbcdn.net/218546..._3434369_o.jpg