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And Another One Bites The Dust

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Waldo

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The last bottle of Indian Head Shellac?

Went to Auto Zone yesterday to score a bottle of Indian Head Shellac. There were two bottles on the shelf, so I grabbed them both. Closer examination revealed one bottle was labeled "Permatex Gasket Shellac Compound". What??? I then checked out the other bottle and, sure enough, "Permatex Indian Head Gasket Shellac Compound". 100 years of brand recognition down the drain. PC strikes again.
 

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Welcome to America.
 
Welcome to America, where if Native folks ask you to take caricatures of their spiritual regalia off your unrelated product, maybe you choose to do it. "Papist Miter Auto Wax" doesn't sell much any more either.

Sorry but, what does this have to do with accordions?
 
Welcome to America, where if Native folks ask you to take caricatures of their spiritual regalia off your unrelated product, maybe you choose to do it. "Papist Miter Auto Wax" doesn't sell much any more either.

Sorry but, what does this have to do with accordions?
Maybe he's using the shellac on reed blocks? I do have empathy with the Native folk. History has not been kind.
 
I believe shellac was traditionally used to glue down valves.
 
OK, but this isn't exactly shellac either. Shellac is still used to cement leather woodwind pads into their brass receptacles. I've done that myself. Shellac comes as a solid, in flakes or beads. Apply heat, and it melts. For a wood finish, it can be dissolved in alcohol before using (so don't use it to finish something that's going to get alcohol on it.) Hardware stores may sell a "Bullseye" pre-dissolved shellac finish, but it's for people who don't know any better - it can work, but I believe the odds get smaller as it gets older on the shelf.

I don't really understand what's at issue here. This is an old sealant formula, that from what I can make out is still produced also for people who don't know any better.

Side note on the indian head business. There's a type of vegetable peeler that I guess may be particularly good for mangoes, that must have been popular in the orient and then returned to us in Asian grocery stores. In the process it went through a couple of translations, and what I suppose was "Indian Head" is now "Barbarian Head". The 1st translation correctly avoided the error of translating "Indian" to mean having anything to do with India, but of course didn't find a word that refers to aboriginal peoples of the North American plains. It still has the Indian head stamped on it, but they didn't get it when they made the 2nd translation back to English.
 
From Accordion Revival:

"Thanks to a tip from Kimric Smythe of Smythe Accordions in Oakland California, I have successfully used Indian Head Gasket Shellac or Versachem Lion Gasket Shellac, available in little brown 2 ounce plastic bottles at auto parts stores for about $3. One bottle is enough to glue several thousand leathers."

I knew I read it somewhere :)
 
AU; Attaching valves to reed plates. See post above. I think Paul recommends this product, as well.
 
Oh no! How will I know if my 2 oz. brown bottle of Permatex gasket shellac that I get at a specialty store is the real deal without a guy's face in profile on it? How will I refer it to my friends? I mean, what am I going to do, call it Permatex Shellac? That sounds as stupid as Permatex Blue or Red! How will I distinguish it from all of the other shellacs that Permatex definitely sells without the bottle being culturally insensitive? I'm very worried for the fate of Permatex's Fortune 200 parent company ITW with this move.
 
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