Cousins pallet shellac

[teegee]

Recently I re-applied shellac to a pallet fork that had many years ago been exposed to ethanol by some careless individual (ho-hum). I was happy with two beautiful blobs of shellac (see pic) and dumped the fork in my little bench jar filled with naphtha, which is also what I use as rinses in the cleaning machine. 

When it came to oiling the pallets after installation, I noticed that my shellac had turned white and was half eaten away. 

Cousins sells three types of shellac: chunks, a clear stick and a dark brown stick. I have the first two.

- The chunks are no use for pallets and are intended for jewelry work holding etc. They contain a course filler of some sort. Impervious to naphtha.

- The clear stick works very well for pallets and general cementing purposes, but apparently dissolves in naphtha.

Has anyone tried the dark stick? I don't want to buy it just to find it's the same as the clear stick with a coloring agent added. 

What do you use to cement pallet stones (and where can I buy it)?

Cheers!

      Rob

[oldhippy]

I used to use shellac flakes. Can't you get those anymore. 

[jdm]

21 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

I used to use shellac flakes. Can't you get those anymore. 

Easy to get at the hardware store in my country, I'm sure the UK isn't different.

[oldhippy]

I just had a quick look and Amazon sell it in different colours. A bag will last a life time.  

[jdm]

PM if you want some from me.

[teegee]

On 5/5/2019 at 4:19 PM, jdm said:

PM if you want some from me.

Thanks for the offer jdm! I'll hunt around for flakes first, and PM you if I'm stuck.

I'm seeing waxed and dewaxed flakes for sale online. Not sure if it would make a difference for pallet bonding use.

 

[measuretwice]

On 5/6/2019 at 5:08 AM, teegee said:

I'm seeing waxed and dewaxed flakes for sale online. Not sure if it would make a difference for pallet bonding use.

 

I can't remember the rational but I remember reading it was waxed that you want for watch work.    The dewaxed is  common for woodworking finishing, the waxed seemed tougher to find.   My use was work holding where I don't think it matters, but I do recall reading about the two

very neat fixture btw, I have not seen something like that before

Edited May 7, 2019 by measuretwice

[jdm]

On 5/7/2019 at 8:09 PM, measuretwice said:

I can't remember the rational but I remember reading it was waxed that you want for watch work.    The dewaxed is  common for woodworking finishing, the waxed seemed tougher to find.   My use was work holding where I don't think it matters, but I do recall reading about the two

I've read about it. Shellac naturally contains 3 - 5% wax, that can be "dewaxed"  to improve adherence for further painting. The flakes are more pale. I don't know which one I have for woodworking but the results are beautiful and very easy to obtain. 

[nickelsilver]

I have pale and dark flakes, the dark definitely work better; they melt at a more reasonable heat. Didn't know about the wax (I've never used it for anything but watch work).

[teegee]

Just to update: I got about a tablespoon of shellac flakes from my BHI DLC assessor, and they work great. I just put a tiny chip of it on top of the pallet, heat it until it becomes semi-fluid and spread it to the right places with a sharpened oiler. Then heat a bit more so that it flows out nicely.

I think one tablespoon will fix a lifetime of pallets.. All the other shellacs I have I'll use for cementing workpieces etc.

Cheers!

     Rob

[oldhippy]

Good work. You don't need much. Pity suppliers don't sell it in tiny amounts.