Alternative For Shellac

[daryllwin]

Hi guys

 

I need to change my pen sac and after reading around the web, I have come to understand I require something called shellac

 

As I understand, Shellac is a form of glue?

 

However, when I went to the hardware store near my place, the lady said shellac is a form of varnish.

 

She told me to use MaxBond.

 

Is this a suitable alternative? Or can I use superglue or something like that?

 

If not, could anyone help me with a Shellac source in Singapore?

 

THanks

[hawkgnat]

Shellac is a varnish. It is also what you should use.

 

I'm sure the hardware store you went to had shellac. It isn't used so much any more for repairing pens, but a lot of people still want to varnish things. I'm not sure why they tried to sell you glue instead, but ignore them.

[pathobby]

Don't use glue! Shellac is much easier to work with and is the 'right' stuff anyway.

 

Take a small medicine bottle to your local joinery shop and try to scrounge some shellac from a friendly furniture or coffin maker. You will only need a very small amount.

 

Half a litre would last you about 100 years!

 

PH

[OldGriz]

Shellac is a varnish. It is also what you should use.

 

I'm sure the hardware store you went to had shellac. It isn't used so much any more for repairing pens, but a lot of people still want to varnish things. I'm not sure why they tried to sell you glue instead, but ignore them.

Shellac IS NOT VARNISH.... shellac is shellac and varnish is varnish.... different items all together...

 

Shellac is used all the time for repairing pens by all the reputable restorers that I know....

 

DO NOT use crazy glue or any other kind of that adhesive or other glues...

 

Any good store that carries woodworking supplies should have shellac in either liquid or flake form... if you buy it in flake form you need to dissolve it in denatured alcohol

[Ron Z]

Shellac is one of the oldest, and still used, finishes for furniture. It has been, and still is, the preferred material used to secure sacs. It's properties and low cost make it ideal for this. It's quite safe, because it does not contain the solvents that can damage a pen, like acetone. It holds very well, and is not effected by ink. When I was in the Sheaffer service center a couple of years ago, I was amused to see a gallon can of Zinsser orange shellac sitting in the back of the fountain pen repair station. They were still using shellac, and nothing fancy at that.

 

You'll find out more about shellac here.

 

Varnish, which has oils and resins, is also used for finishing furniture, but is very different. It's ingredients could damage your pen. Here's an article on varnish.

 

Shellac flakes are relatively inexpensive, and can be shipped by mail. You mix the flakes with alcohol to turn it into a usable form. The shelf life of off-the-shelf shellac is 3 years from date of manufacture, not one as stated in the article, though it can vary a bit between different kinds of shellac.

 

This is one case where the traditional material really is not only the right product to use, but the best one as well. IMO, there is no alternative.

[OcalaFlGuy]

This is one case where the traditional material really is not only the right product to use, but the best one as well. IMO, there is no alternative.

 

Despite the fact that invariably, Someone Will Surely step forward and INSIST that their concoction of ground mosquito eyelashes and nectar of newt not only works much better, but is much more readily available in their area.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[FarmBoy]

This is one case where the traditional material really is not only the right product to use, but the best one as well. IMO, there is no alternative.

 

Despite the fact that invariably, Someone Will Surely step forward and INSIST that their concoction of ground mosquito eyelashes and nectar of newt not only works much better, but is much more readily available in their area.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

It is eyelash of newt and nectar of gnat but your recipe may also work, just don't use the pen around garlic.

 

T

[Ron Z]

Living in Florida, yes indeed, any mosquito part would be far more readily available.

 

Do they still have the fogging trucks driving around the neighborhoods at night to kill the critters?

[dcwaites]

Living in Florida, yes indeed, any mosquito part would be far more readily available.

 

Do they still have the fogging trucks driving around the neighborhoods at night to kill the critters?

 

I suspect not, at least not since "Silent Spring".

 

My memory of the fogging machines is that they used DDT (not bad for humans, but really bad for mossies and things that eat us). But that was in another country

[OcalaFlGuy]

Living in Florida, yes indeed, any mosquito part would be far more readily available.

 

Do they still have the fogging trucks driving around the neighborhoods at night to kill the critters?

 

I haven't seen them here in Ocala now that you mention it. I think it gets too durn hot here for much standing water to accumulate for very long.

The fog trucks were always active when I lived in Melbourne on the coast, they also have spray planes and copters. http://www.brevardcounty.us/mosquito/

 

David, when you can't walk out the door without a cloud of mosquitoes covering you, you won't worry about a little spray. (And since you mention it, a

1000 poxes on Racheal Carson for the deaths and misery she is directly responsible for in third world countries with her over-reactive anti-ddt bleating.)

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[FarmBoy]

Living in Florida, yes indeed, any mosquito part would be far more readily available.

 

Do they still have the fogging trucks driving around the neighborhoods at night to kill the critters?

 

I haven't seen them here in Ocala now that you mention it. I think it gets too durn hot here for much standing water to accumulate for very long.

The fog trucks were always active when I lived in Melbourne on the coast, they also have spray planes and copters. http://www.brevardcounty.us/mosquito/

 

David, when you can't walk out the door without a cloud of mosquitoes covering you, you won't worry about a little spray. (And since you mention it, a

1000 poxes on Racheal Carson for the deaths and misery she is directly responsible for in third world countries with her over-reactive anti-ddt bleating.)

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

The observation was that the egg shells of endangered birds got thinner when the birds were exposed to DDT residue. I believe that link has long been questioned but it was this link that got DDT delisted as an insecticide if I remember my chemical history correctly (and I'm to lazy to look it up.) There has long been a debate regarding lives saved from Malaria vs. the environmental impact of DDT use. Not sure who is winning at this point. If memory serves correct (yeah I know about the internet) there was a Nobel prize granted for DDT work.

 

T

[daryllwin]

Oh. Ok. Thanks for the help guys!

[Bo Bo Olson]

"""The observation was that the egg shells of endangered birds got thinner when the birds were exposed to DDT residue. I believe that link has long been questioned but it was this link that got DDT delisted as an insecticide if I remember my chemical history correctly (and I'm to lazy to look it up.) There has long been a debate regarding lives saved from Malaria vs. the environmental impact of DDT use. Not sure who is winning at this point. If memory serves correct (yeah I know about the internet) there was a Nobel prize granted for DDT work."""

 

 

Dupont's patent was running out, so funded young biologist field workers who were sent out with a mechanical twist micrometers to see how thin egg shells in the wild were. They were thin....had they been sent out to find out how thick they were, they would have been thick. One twisted hard, the other would have twisted easy. None were sent to a laboratory to see how thick or thin they actually were.

 

By the time the patent on DDT ran out, it was then illegal for any one to kill mosquitoes with it costing millions and millions of the poor folks deaths from malaria.

That way no one could use Dupont's expired patent.

 

 

Standard clear Nail polish also works, as I was told by David Parisi* who repairs pens in Hamburg Germany....it fills in the tiny gaps in/on the section better than shellac. Pg 12 of Da Book also...some one else also mentioned it filled the gaps better.

It is as I read and heard, but I've not done anything yet. Having a wife, it saves me a step in procurement. Now all I need is the sac's.

 

But let's keep using shellac there are a lot of jobs involved in poor Asian lands.

Fountain pens have a lot to do with tradition...orange shellac is tradition.

 

It is quite possible Back in the Day, woman's clear nail polish was either not as good as now, or cost too much compared to shellac.

 

* David is The Man to talk to if you are interested in mechanical pencils.

Edited August 31, 2010 by Bo Bo Olson

[Ron Z]

Pg 12 of Da Book also...some one else also mentioned it filled the gaps better.

 

This is just one of many areas in which I, and many others, think that Frank was wrong.

[FarmBoy]

Pg 12 of Da Book also...some one else also mentioned it filled the gaps better.

 

This is just one of many areas in which I, and many others, think that Frank was wrong.

I have had the pleasure of repairing a rather rare and exciting vintage Conway Stewart that a previous repair person had used finger nail polish to secure the section. The acetone in said sealant bonded very nicely with the barrel and completely filled any gaps as Frank mentioned.

 

After many attempts and an assurance from the owner that if I damaged the pen I wouldn't be cursed (apparently I was the third person to try to open the pen) it became a matter of pride to get the section out. I can honestly say I earned my 10 spot.

 

The moral of the story: Shellac is your friend if you must glue something on a pen together.

[Ernst Bitterman]

After many attempts and an assurance from the owner that if I damaged the pen I wouldn't be cursed (apparently I was the third person to try to open the pen) it became a matter of pride to get the section out. I can honestly say I earned my 10 spot.

 

Was it dogged, near-ignorant determination (which would have been my approach) or something clever you could share with the rest of us?

 

While we're on this sort of topic-- has anyone come up with an alternative for the wheel? Something that's rather like a wheel, and can be used in place of a wheel, but isn't in fact a wheel?

 

ex post facto edit: actually on topic is the appearance of pink nail polish in this somewhat tragic thread. It's everywhere!

Edited August 31, 2010 by Ernst Bitterman

[Aysedasi]

 

 

While we're on this sort of topic-- has anyone come up with an alternative for the wheel? Something that's rather like a wheel, and can be used in place of a wheel, but isn't in fact a wheel?

 

Ah, you mean the Bandan Bladderstiddle?

[pathobby]

After many attempts and an assurance from the owner that if I damaged the pen I wouldn't be cursed (apparently I was the third person to try to open the pen) it became a matter of pride to get the section out. I can honestly say I earned my 10 spot.

 

Was it dogged, near-ignorant determination (which would have been my approach) or something clever you could share with the rest of us?

 

While we're on this sort of topic-- has anyone come up with an alternative for the wheel? Something that's rather like a wheel, and can be used in place of a wheel, but isn't in fact a wheel?

 

There is a guy called Dyson in the UK who makes 'ball-barrows' [and NO! it is not what you think!!]

 

He uses big orange/yellow balls which are rather like wheels... are used in place of wheels....but are not in fact wheels. The result is a curiously easy to push ball-barrow like thing. They would be great for the flat bits in Canada!

 

He also uses these balls on a vacuum cleaner he designs. I think they are hideous, but hey I like fountain pens with glass nibs so what do I know about design!

 

PH

Edited August 31, 2010 by pathobby

[Tommy]

After many attempts and an assurance from the owner that if I damaged the pen I wouldn't be cursed (apparently I was the third person to try to open the pen) it became a matter of pride to get the section out. I can honestly say I earned my 10 spot.

 

Was it dogged, near-ignorant determination (which would have been my approach) or something clever you could share with the rest of us?

 

While we're on this sort of topic-- has anyone come up with an alternative for the wheel? Something that's rather like a wheel, and can be used in place of a wheel, but isn't in fact a wheel?

Here you go, Ernst. Someday we will all be using these.

 

[FarmBoy]

After many attempts and an assurance from the owner that if I damaged the pen I wouldn't be cursed (apparently I was the third person to try to open the pen) it became a matter of pride to get the section out. I can honestly say I earned my 10 spot.

 

Was it dogged, near-ignorant determination (which would have been my approach) or something clever you could share with the rest of us?

The pen was saved and is purring along nicely as far as I know. There was no magic bullet but rather dumb luck and persistence. I'm guessing I heated and cooled that barrel 50 times and sonicated the snot out of it even using an industrial strength sonic horn at work. I think the bond just eventually gave way. I did have the pen on the bench for over 6 months giving it a try each time I sat down to work on pens. The echo of the snap I heard when it gave loose is still in the room. I looked down and the barrel was whole and the section was out. I woke up my wife to tell her about it. This is the most important part you can learn from my endeavor: Farmgirl doesn't care if you got the pen apart.

 

Farmboy