Classtime 

I did enjoy that. If I ever do shellac again, I will include steps 3-6 for sure. I noticed some shellac still on my bike’s paint from years ago when I tried the shellac just because. But I now wrap from the bottom up so there is no peeling of the edges and use Tressostar which lays flat😉


3 coats.

unworthy1

unless there's something weird the French use (Armagnac?) all the shellac I have ever bought as "pre-mixed" (Zinsser, Bullseye) is thinned with alcohol. And any that I have made myself, from any dried form, is too.
That's sort of what defines shellac: the resin dissolves in alcohol; the dried finish is not alcohol-proof (it's not a Bar-top varnish).
I could apply (not on apples) any sort of varnish I want, having been in furniture related businesses for years: lacquer, acrylic, polyurethane, Damar varnish...but for this use (coating cotton twill tape, and maybe hemp twine, on bike handlebars) I would always choose shellac.
YMMV

No the State of California, in it's enormous wisdom to protect what's left of our Air Resources, has banned purchase of many solvents which used to be common over-the-hardware-store counter (Naphtha, Toluene, Xylene, MEK) and denatured alcohol, too.
I was told it's because of the denaturing (poisonous) additive which makes it undrinkable, which was nearly always some MEK, but whatever the reason if we want to "cut" our own shellac we have to find pure (99%) Isopropyl (rubbing alcohol) or some other clever work-around. The Iso works but is slower to dissolve the dry.

You can't buy Everclear in California, either, but both that and just about anything else is available over in Nevada. Maybe Arizona and Oregon, too, well...not the Everclear maybe!
Bring banned stuff back into California is...well, I'm not a lawyer...

BTW, according to my recent shopping trip shellac is NOT the cheap stuff, whether a can of Bullseye ($26/pint) or a pound of dried de-waxed Super Blonde flakes from my fave shop in Napa, shellac.net: (49.95/lb) the price is going up and up. Even a rattlecan of "clear" spray was $18.95 at shellac.net, and that's a sale price.

wschruba

Test on an inconspicuous area first (bottom of the bottom bracket shell?), But after soaking a cotton makeup pad with alcohol, lay it on the spot, wrapped in plastic wrap. After a few hours, wipe. It should come right off.

Never understood seeing "display bikes" at shows with sloppy shellac jobs. It's about the easiest thing to clean off a bike.

El Chaba

I have a few other observations about shellacked bar tape. A simple, thin coat seems to do a great job at “tacking down” cloth tape. If you really want to make the tape job semi-permanent, you will need to do several coats so that the tape is completely sealed from the elements and the wearing forces of your hands. Obviously, the amber colored shellac is better at hiding the inevitable dirt from use and the color in general is suited to making it into the “patina” category. If you go the “fully shellacked” route, you will have to be careful with your selection of gloves. When shellacked bars became popular, all of the cycling gloves had leather palms. That combination results in a good grip. Fast forward to today and most cycling gloves have various forms of synthetic palms. Many of these result in a very slippery interface with fully shellacked bars and can be dangerous. Many of the materials that are a better copy of real leather are fine especially if the palm area is augmented with rubber dots or similar. As always, your mileage may vary.
Several decades ago, it was a practice to shellac tubulars to the rim in lieu of normal cement. This was generally done for track use or for time trials. You would have to start with a completely clean rim and tire…or a rim that only had uncontaminated shellac residue. Not only would the resulting bond be incredibly secure, it would virtually eliminate any of the squirming or crepitation between the tire/rim interface. In some rolling resistance tests, tubulars may have a slightly higher rolling resistance coefficient than a very similar clincher. This difference is usually attributed to the crepitation associated with the tubular bonding ( of course, the method of gluing is never standardized or even accurately described, but then again most of the rolling resistance tests have been performed to collect data to sell clinchers). I would think that a shellac bond would eliminate any crepitation and yield the lowest possible rolling resistance. The old people were not dumb.

AdventureManCO 

How did I miss this thread???

good show! Excellent tutorial and follow up from other members.

I recall putting some Newbaums cloth tape on an old Fuji S10-S that I had. The classic brown of the cloth tape went swimmingly with the turquoise of the bike.

I’ve been a little hesitant about the shellac method, but seeing it on the Mexico and the Singer makes me think it *might* be good enough for the Huffy. Still on the fence.

I do have some leather strips that I used as handlebar wrap from another project…maybe I can shellac the leather and have the best of both worlds?




I plan to end this debate once and for all and wrap using the ultra advanced ‘middle-to-top-and-bottom’ technique that few have ever mastered.

USAZorro

My first time attempting shellac, I learned exactly how critical step 6 is. I was very careful in my application, yet afterwards, I found tiny droplets all over the frame and components. It took hours to clean it all off.

USAZorro

Color control, durability, maintainability and texture.

unworthy1

"Color control, durability, maintainability and texture." to which I'd also add:
this is a "natural product" that is-- it's not made from petrochemicals (although I suppose some alcohol used as thinner/solvent COULD be, but no reason it has to be).

Rather the resin is derived from "an interaction" between insects and a specific variety of tree, then hand-harvested and processed (at least to some levels) by humans.

That "insect" angle might cause some gross-out to some delicate souls, but not me.

Please pass the honey!

Drillium Dude 

Excellent point!

This phenomenon is why I prefer the shellac flakes/alcohol method. The pre-mixed shellac is glossier, and as a result, is slippery-er (izzat a word?) than the alternative route used in this tutorial.

I received a stark reminder regarding slippery bar tape on the very first ride after finishing the Bianchi. I outfitted it originally with this stuff:



Twice during the maiden ride, my hand nearly slipped off the bar; I felt lucky not to have had a fall on both occasions. Two warnings were enough for me; once home, I pulled out two rolls of Newbaum's and wrapped the bars as god intended

I did use the pre-mixed shellac on those bars, but it's still more grippy than Benotto celo-tape. And, yes - I always wear gloves when riding bars treated with pre-mixed shellac (and yes, those gloves are leather-palmed).

DD

Drillium Dude 

Also: aesthetics - after all, we're all about 'The Look' here

DD

Drillium Dude 

Bugs don't bug me, either

DD

USAZorro

I thought that was an old, yet somewhat charged topic for a different sub-forum.

AdventureManCO 

Yes we are!

CV-6 

No finishing twine? We are talking aesthetics here.

oneclick 

You're having a laugh, right?

That way is easy, and if you double-wrap (and have full brakehoods) there are no visible ends to tidy up (extra bit of twill is to show the colour before shellac):

Colorado Kid

Wow! This would be nice on my '83 Schwinn. Does it make process make the ride feel any better then foam tape?

rustystrings61 

After I ordered my Vincitore in October 2002 I started assembling things while I waited for the frame to arrive. One of those assemblies was the bar/stem/brake levers/tape setup. I used orange Tressostar and double-wrapped it with a little overlap to create a subtle edging where it overlapped, then applied several coats of Bullseye amber shellac. Having all the sub-assemblies ready to go made the initial build in January 2003 much faster! This first photo is from November 2003, and shows how the orange tape and three or four coats of Bullseye originally looked. It's a closer match for the original color of the honey Brooks B17 (visible towards the rear of the saddle).



This photo is from January, 2010 at around mile 9,335, and after a couple of years of commuting in all weather as well as recreational riding. You can see where the top layer has eroded through, and a fresh coat of shellac is overdue. The left side was worse, as the left hand comes off and goes back on the bars much more frequently to loosen or tighten toe straps and to signal turns.



In January 2011, I foolishly parked Julius the Vincitore by leaning the left pedal against a curb. A gust of wind toppled the bike over, bending the drop section of my bars inward. I acquired a set of Nitto 176s to replace the original 185s - but I UNWRAPPED the original tape and removed the levers, swapped bars, reinstalled the levers and re-wrapped the original tape and shellacked it again. Some time later that year I sold my Rivendell but kept the original first run Nitto lugged stem and switched it over to the Mercian. This required removing one side of the tape AGAIN, in this case on the left.



While worn and frayed and torn, the tape is still serviceable. I may yet simply wrap this area where frayed ends are butted together with some Rivendell-esque twine wrap tricks. Then again, they've been like this since 2014, so ...



Finally, here is how the bar tape looked in October 2020, with 13k miles. It pretty well matches the patina of the B17 (now sporting an auxiliary rivet to support the nose after the leather tore under the original right nose rivet). I think I've pretty much always ridden with leather-palmed gloves, if that is a data point to be considered.

Robvolz 

crazy question: I know some run their cloth tape through the wash and then wrap while still wet, giving it pliability and stretch that shrinks to a tight fit when it dries.

Has anybody attempted to pre-shellac the tape? Wrap it while still wet with the shellac?

El Chaba

I think that would be about like trying to apply tubasti with a q-tip clenched between your teeth with both arms tied behind your back….

unworthy1

Nooooo, and the thought/mental picture of that process does not look pretty to me!
Some body else may have tried it but if you are persnickety about shellac drips on your bike, I imagine this would result in a deluge!

Drillium Dude 

Nope - I haven't taken it that far.







Yet.



DD

Drillium Dude 

I'm assuming you mean the feel of the bar through your hands? Not if you're wearing gloves; if bare-handed, I assure you'll feel a big difference as shellacked bars provide effectively zero cushioning.

My advice aligns with that of others in this thread: wear gloves. Your skin - and possibly your head - will thank you

DD

Drillium Dude 

Wow, you've really put your tape through the wringer! Very impressed with the fact you've been able to unwind it, and re-wrap - more than once, too. Chapeau!

Also: both photos represent the visual definition of patina. I like

DD

Drillium Dude 

Me, neither - that's a guaranteed mess. I guess if one likes a real challenge, and isn't concerned one iota about the end result - but nobody who shares my sensibilities would ever dream of it.

More like nightmare fuel - and high-octane, at that

DD

CV-6 

I think you should for sure. Granted it's not shellaced, but...yeah.

20220502_141850 by L Travers, on Flickr