shellac dyes and superglue

**fanlee** · 9th November 2009, 11:34 AM

Hi.
I wish to bind a top that will be stained with water soluble dye/s.

I have spent a lot of time in browsing the MIMF archives where the consensus seems to be to 'roughen' the (plastic) binding, and use CA with a hint of moisture.

The danger for me is that if super glue gets on the top, it stops the absorption of the dye there.

I must take the view that no matter how patient & careful I am, there will be some contamination.

So...will coating the top with shellac before binding prevent any super glue overflow penetrating the wood and interfering with the dye.

I would remove the shellac after binding with methylated spirit and maybe a little sanding.
Thanks

ps...also...

I just don't get this 'wicking' technique that a lot of people mention. Can anyone describe how it's done? like in detail?

Thanks again.
Rob.

**Sebastiaan56** · 9th November 2009, 05:51 PM

Hi Rob,

You might want to post this in the musical instruments section. Im sure we will get some responses of "what are they talking about?"

From experience if you get CA onto your top it will a major pita to get it off. I hope you havent finished sanding it. Shellac will seal the top and prevent surface wicking but you need the CA to penetrate the timber to some degree to get a good bond. Wicking refers to allowing the CA to find its own path between the binding and timber but also refers to the process by which the CA gets into the end grain of the timber. It will stain spruce and once its in will penetrate at least 1/2mm. This will blow your staining plans out of the water..

If I were you I'd stain the top, then give a couple of good shellac coats and finally add the binding. You will need to be careful when scraping the binding that you dont take off any of the top timber but you have to be careful scraping the binding anyway. To get it right bend your binding as close as possible to the shape of the instrument hold it in place with blue masking tape (it doesnt rip grain out of your top which the white stuff will) and gently ease a small drop between the binding and the channel. Leave it to dry for an hour and remove the tape verrry gently.

What binding are you using? What is the top timber?

**fanlee** · 9th November 2009, 10:14 PM

Thanks Sebastian.

I doing a chambered Les Paul double cutaway - Qld maple body with a Blackwood top which I plan to 'burst' with water soluble dye. The binding is plastic - StewMac Les Paul type.

I thought about the musical instrument section but this section seemed closer to the specific problem. I don't know whether it's permissable to double-post.

I've also read that I should shellac the binding channels before gluing since the CA sticks well to shellac.

Also there's some stuff called Duco ( cement ) which some people swear by, but which others say doesn't work that well...

I can see that the method you suggest would be good provided I was VERY careful scraping the binding.....hmmmm

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