Attendance: Jim Hiltz, Paul, Miles, Wilson, Trevor Pushie (New Member)

Leo mentioned a new invention: Use an electric toothbrush, cut the bristles off and glue on  a sandpaper to make a small rotatory tool

Leo discussed Shellac. He is studying modifications on the use of the age old finish.
Shellac comes from the secretions of insects;

Lac is the scarlet resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated species is Kerria lacca.

Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick (broodlac) that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infested.^[1] Thousands of lac insects colonize the branches of the host trees and secrete the resinous pigment. The coated branches of the host trees are cut and harvested as sticklac.

The harvested sticklac is crushed and sieved to remove impurities. The sieved material is then repeatedly washed to remove insect parts and other soluble material. The resulting product is known as seedlac. The prefix seed refers to its pellet shape. Seedlac which still contains 3-5% impurities is processed into shellac by heat treatment or solvent extraction.

The leading producer of Lac is Jharkhand, followed by the Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Maharashtra states of India. Lac production is also found in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, parts of China, and Mexico.

Shellac flakes can be dissolved in Methyl alcohol

They come in various colors: Orange, white, blond, and ultra blond: 

(Available at Wood Essence in Ontario) The flakes will deteriorate unless humidity is low.

Orange is the hardest to use as it colors up the grain too much

Use a ratio of:   1Flakes : 3 Methyl alcohol

This solution should be stable for a good while

This dilution is OK for spraying  use a low pressure or it will gum up on the surface of your wood.

One can make fillers by using a mixture of Cabosil, sanding dust of various colors and the shellac mix.

Store these in jars.

They will harden up in time and you have to add some methyl alcohol to soften it again.

Leo suggested spraying on black paint for the vase project

If brushing it on, brush lots until it is almost dry to avoid streaks. Lift the brush towards the end so that it just touches the surface.

Once done, a water based lacquer or clear acrylic can be used to do the final finish

Staining Cherry: this is hard to accomplish as the stain is taken up too deeply especially in the end grain

Solution: Use a mixture of Tannic acid ( a powder) and ammonia to coat the wood before adding the stain.

We decided to make some chuck jaws for holding large bowls as a next project.

Beech 5/8 thickness is the best wood to use (Hard maple alternatively)

We also decided to start to turn some of the acacia bowl blanks

Make a small bowl for the next sessions and we will practice with the shellac and stain and finish.

Leo's-  Cherry/Maple-Shellac finish

                                     Jim's plane