Help with Shellac on an Antique Baseball (Shellacking)

[SteelCity]

I will start of by saying I am an idiot. I have this great new game-used Official American League William Harridge baseball. It has a thick coat of lacquer... well it did anyway. I decided I wanted to see it in it's natural state. Had I only come on this forum first, I would have learned not to make this mistake.

I stripped most of the lacquer to reveal a fairly white to off-white ball with hardly a single flaw, but I couldn't get the shellac from deep inside the laces, and some natural pores of the leather, so it looks worse than it is.

Then I decided to try and get it off the stamping, and I was very careful. I sampled one letter on the last line (U.S.A. is now U.S.), and it tore it right off. Lesson learned, but now I have this fugly looking thing. It looked 10X better shellacked, almost a natural patina. I later tried to sand down over the Reach logo very lightly. Moron. Started to wear the logo off a bit.

So I'm thinking I should reapply the shellac and try to even it out. Problem is the original coat has to be decades old. Any recommendations on how to match it? Any other potential fixes to make it look half decent again? My next best guess is to buy some baseball / umpires' mud and coat it. Check the pics, and thanks for looking.

[SteelCity]

Re: Help with Shellac on an Antique Baseball (Shellacking)

Upon further review I realize I probably stripped the surface coating that was colored by toning or mud rub, so I don't see how any new lacquer coating will match it without more natural toning and mud, or some staining product.

I'm an idiot/

[xpress34]

Re: Help with Shellac on an Antique Baseball (Shellacking)

Steel -

To be honest, your post was painful to read - and to see the pics... OUCH!

I had a bad feeling before I even started to read it - and I am sorry you didn't come here first before attempting the surgery.

These pics are of my 1927 Ban Johnson Ball:





You can still see remnants of the Shellack, but it appears to have naturally worn off over the years from handling as most of the print is still fairly bold - this is how I bought the ball.

However, I am not certain that someone else didn't attempt to remove the shellack... the downside to vintage balls having been shellacked in the first place (usually to preserve fountain pen sigs) is that when the shellack comes off, so does the sig. My ball has at least 5 spots that show remnants of signatures that are long gone.

Who knows who could have been on this ball? Murderer's Row possibly?

Anyway, I guess it was a lesson learned?

I personally don't think there is much you can do to get the ball back to a uniform 'color'... I'm just hoping you don't have too much into the ball.

If you're ever thinking of getting rid of it, please let me know - ugly or not, Harridge is one of the balls I need for my collection...

All the best -

Chris

[SteelCity]

Re: Help with Shellac on an Antique Baseball (Shellacking)

Chris, I appreciate the reply. That baseball you have is a treasure regardless of condition, any official mutli-color laced ball is, in my opinion.

I've worked on mine some more; I think I made it worse. The pic I have in my first post makes it look worse than it is, believe me, but it's still hideous. The hi-res digital camera picks up so much more than I can see looking at the ball.

Regardless, at least the stamping was mint before I got a hold of it. Since that pic was taken I tried to thin the remaining lacquer with alcohol and I faded that ugly yellow/brown color a bit, but started to strip a bit of the stamping away in the process. Now it truly looks game-used, and has plenty of ugly faded shellac left. I've got a few more ideas left before I give up. If I can just fade the color enough without stripping more logo I may be able to make it displayable.

Had I left it alone, it would have been a goofy shade of neon looking brown/yellow, but the stamping was at least perfect. As far as cost, well, it was very cheap all things consider. Under $30 total.

I bought it only to display as part of my collection - trying to get one from each President from both leagues. So I still need it, technically, but I'm looking to replace it eventually. When I find a replacement, you're the first person I'll contact.

[dpm]

Re: Help with Shellac on an Antique Baseball (Shellacking)

I've never attempted to remove shellac from a baseball, but I have worked with shellac on various wood projects. Hopefully, you're talking shellac & not lacquer...two totally different animals. Shellac is an alcohol based product, where lacquer is lacquer based.
Orange shellac can be purchased at most paint & hardware stores.
I would experiment buy thinning the shellac with alcohol; possibly 1 part alcohol to 2 parts shellac. The more shellac the deeper the color-tone. Wod up a clean rag or cheesecloth & dip into the mixture, just to make it wet, don't have it dripping. Apply the mixture to surface by rubbing & try to blend it in. Once the shellac has dried, additional coats can be applied to deepen the color-tone. If it's too dark, light wiping with an alcohol rub will lighten the toning.
I've been able to successfully blend shellac on wood projects.
Experiment on something before trying it on a valuable item.
Hope this helps.

[SteelCity]

Re: Help with Shellac on an Antique Baseball (Shellacking)

Thanks dpm, this sounds like the next step I'll take. Though I honestly don't know which it is, shellac or lacquer. Just assumed they were they same thing. Any sure signs to help me determine which one it could be? It's gotta be shellac, I've been able to thin it already:

I've taken some denatured alcohol to it and thinned that coat down a bit. It's taken off some of that ridiculous color to make it appear bit more clear, but it's also started to fade the stamps in some tiny spots, so I quit. It's really tough to make a dent without soaking it and really using some elbow grease, but then it quickly becomes too much pressure and it begins tear away at the stamp.

I think it's time to try to just match the color the best I can and even coat it all the way around. I've got some old cheap baseballs to practice on. I'll be buying some colored shellac soon and I'll re-post the results... if the final result is not too embarrassing.

[Vintagedeputy]

Re: Help with Shellac on an Antique Baseball (Shellacking)

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[cohibasmoker]

Re: Help with Shellac on an Antique Baseball (Shellacking)

I like to leave things alone, especially shellacked baseballs.

Jim


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