Cyanoacrylate (CA) Glue for Rigging

[wefalck]

Not all 'shellac' formulations contain pure shellac and alcohol. Some unrefined shellacs may also contain waxes that could account for the tackiness. Still it is quite strange.

[BobG]

4 hours ago, wefalck said:

To my knowledge, shellac has unlimited shelf-life, it lasts forever.

That's good to hear since the quart I just bought will out live me!

 

 

[BobG]

4 hours ago, stm said:

Poured the contains into a glass jar and used it five years later on and still worked fine. 

I just purchased some small glass jars with metal lids so I can have a small container available when I need it without opening the quart can every time.

 

4 hours ago, stm said:

Unfortunately a few years again had passed and I tried to use it for one of my ships only to find that it refused to dry after several attempts and would remain tacky. May be not always an unlimited shelf life. 

I read where the way to tell if your shellac is getting too old is when the drying time keeps getting longer and longer. 

[Bob Cleek]

I've read as well that shellac has a shelf life of around two years after being mixed and dries tacky when it gets old. Like the others commenting on this, I've never experienced any "aging" problems with shellac and I'm sure I've used some that was more than a couple of years old. I use it for lots of applications besides gluing knots, though.. Most of it that I use is used to seal bare wood before finishing. Maybe the "aging" thing has something to do with using it with French polishing, which can be a tricky business. Perhaps I'll try playing with some dry flakes one of these days and see if there's any difference.

 

I would assume that if there were any way to extend the shelf life of mixed shellac, the manufacturers would do it. The MSDS for Zinsser's "Bullseye" brand mixed shellac indicates that it contains 70% alcohol and 5% propanol. Perhaps the propanol serves as some sort of a preservative. I'm no chemist, so I'm just guessing.

[Roger Pellett]

Before starting the rigging on my last model I went to the cosmetic department at our local Target store and told the lady stocking shelves that I wanted a bottle of her least expensive lacquer based clear nail polish.  A little bottle with brush on top cost well under $2.00. A little dab was used to secure knots, servings,etc and ro stiffen the ends of line.  It worked great and I still have most of the bottle.

 

[Bob Cleek]

2 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

Before starting the rigging on my last model I went to the cosmetic department at our local Target store and told the lady stocking shelves that I wanted a bottle of her least expensive lacquer based clear nail polish.  A little bottle with brush on top cost well under $2.00. A little dab was used to secure knots, servings,etc and ro stiffen the ends of line.  It worked great and I still have most of the bottle.

 

Clear nail polish works well, too, and the brush in the cap is handy. I've used it in the past, but switched to shellac because 1) shellac has less tendency to leave a glossy shine like nail polish, if the polish is applied too thickly. (Although, nail polish can be thinned with acetone, which solves that problem.) and 2) shellac is very easy to "un-do," if necessary, by applying alcohol. To remove nail polish, it takes acetone, which is a bit noxious, and a very aggressive solvent which can destroy painted surfaces, etc., if a drop falls on it.

[wefalck]

Personally, I prefer simple, trusted products over industrial formulations of unknown composition. With nail-polish one has to be aware of that this trade increasingly also uses acrylics due to the fear of acetone. The acrylics break down, when treated with solvent, while lacquers such as shellac and nitrocellulose dissolve and then harden again. Acrylic varnish cannot really be removed from rope. With the lacquers there is no need to remove them, if you want to adjust something.