How to melt shoe polish?

[Richard Sterry]

Curses! I never thought of that. :-(

Rick

[Mary Fisher]

LOL!

That's why my shoes aren't polished ...

Mary

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 29 Nov 2004, Mary Fisher wrote

Tell me about it....it took a while, but c.1985 it was the by far the simplest way to source a small amount -- one chair's worth -- of black shellac.

(I bought the 78s from a junk-shop-wannabe-antique store, and asked for his "oldest and poorest-quality" records -- more shellac content in the older ones, I was told. The look on his face when he found I had zilch interest in what the recording was, and just wanted to render them down for materials was...not pleased...)

1930s would work well for shellac-making....

[Mary Fisher]

Oh it wasn't difficult to find!

That's true. the later, lighterones weren't the same at all. some of them were unbreakable! Took all the fun out of it.

I know. but I don't want any. If I did I have some flakes. I also have some ready-made button polish but I bet I couldn't get the stopper off ...

Mary

[Don Spumey]

You're becoming senescent Mary ;-)

Don.

[Andy Dingley]

Have you ever actually done this ?

I'm not disputing the basic theory (78's are shellac, shellac in alcohol makes a "black polish") but with that much granted, this is about as unworkable a proces as you can find.

78's aren't shellac - they're shellac and filler (presumably carbon black, although I don't know for sure). This modifies shellac's behaviour enormously.

Shellac won't just dissolve in meths. As someone who does a lot of this, I use a coffee grinder to powder it first and even then it takes a couple of days.

Fresh shellac makes polish. Old shellac doesn't make anything useful, A few months is the limit for liquid, the age of a 78 is certainly enough for solids.

Black shellac polish is the most foul-tempered and unworkable of all shellac polishes. If you're expecting a good result, you need the best quality and freshest you can find. Trying to make it out of recycled

78's is just asking for trouble.

No.

Lots of things. Sweets (M&Ms / Smarties) and pills are eaten, hairspray and furniture finishes still use it as a varnish or polish. I use a couple of kilogrammes a year.

Maybe. But it would be unstable in storage and wouldn't keep working for very long.

[Mary Fisher]

Don't worry, it's not catching :-)

Mry

[Mary Fisher]

Of Smarties or hairspray?

Mary

[Suz]

It's time for our Natural Philisopher to *wax* lyrical about the fringe benefits of an Aga.

Suzanne

[Don Spumey]

Just sneaks up when you're not looking!

Don.

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 29 Nov 2004, Andy Dingley wrote

Yes, but not for about 15 or 20 years; it gave me a jar-ful of polish, which was enough for the bit of work I needed to do.

FWIW, I never finished the job -- it's still on the list... -- but the test finishing I did on a leg and upright of the 19th-century chair I was intending to do worked perfectly.

Well....it did work; the re-ebonising looked fine.

-snip-

It wasn't nice stuff to work with -- and working with shellac is a pain in any event -- but it did the job at the time.

[Kooky45]

Story update. I melted the polish in the tin over one of those little mood candles. It took about 10 mins. When it was fully molten I blew the candle out, and for an experiment I dipped a sponge gently into the polish and rubbed it on my shoes. Wow! The polish went on beautifully, nice and thick and even. I let it dry properly on the shoe then polished it off, and it's the best shine they've ever had. The polish in the tin hardened after about 10 mins to a nice smooth finish so I should be able to use it again shortly.

[Ian Middleton]

I just melted my shoe polish on the smallest hob on my gas cooker, took about 10-20 seconds to melt enough in bottom of tin to stick the lumps in place. Let cool and set cleaned shoes all done. No fire, no burnt kitchen, no animals dying, just good clean shoes.

[Mary Fisher]

If you're lucky it will happen to the rest of you :-) It has its benefits.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Sigh ... Andy, they're all doing us out of a job. We'll fade away from lack of sustenance ... :-(

Mary

[Owain]

"Mary Fisher" wrote | > ... However, I must admit to deriving a certain miserly | > pleasure from it. ;-) | Power and fuel costs money.

Heavens Mary, you're not supposed to light a candle specially for melting shoe-polish. Just wait until a night-time power cut when one of your neighbours will have a candle lit anyway, and use theirs.

Haven't you discovered news:misc.consumers.frugal-living yet?

Owain

[David]

I'll leave the advice on solution to those here who know more. As far as prevention is concerned, there seems to be a pinhole in many of these tins (have a look). No doubt this is to ease opening of the tin (hah!), but it also aids the evaporation of the solvent. When you buy a tin. seal the hole with tape.

Yours stingily, wearing fingerless gloves.

David

[Mary Fisher]

Hmm. Tape costs money ... the self-adhesive strips from the plastic bags which come with junk mail are very durable ...

But tha's a lot to learn, lad!

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

We don't have power cuts any more ... and I wouldn't melt polish over a direct flame even if it were free.

Not that we use shoe polish - don't wear shoes :-)

What I would do if I really wanted to melt shoe polish would be to put the tin in a polythene bag in the greenhouse - or on the bulkhead of the car in the sun.

I'm off now!

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

Hmm. Interesting. Haven't looked at a thread yet but there are some familiar names :-)

Mary