Shipping Lacquered Bowls - Russ??

Re: Shipping Lacquered Bowls - Russ??

adrien

>saran wrap first???

Re: Shipping Lacquered Bowls - Russ??

Jerome Laux

>Don't use Saran wrap. Saran is polyvinylidiene dichloride. It will off-gas a small amount of chlorine with some heat and light. This is not good for your finishes. I know they claim Saran is microwaveable - don't do that either. My favorite wrapping material is unprinted newspaper. Though I have had some problems with it in high heat and humidity.

Re: Shipping Lacquered Bowls - Russ??2

Russ Fairfield

>I have never done a test or kept track of the problem. But, I do know that imprinting on the surface of a finish can be a problem when it is packed and shipped. I have no idea what causes it, but I do have some observations.

Maybe someone who knows what they are talking about will have the correct answer.

I have had the same problem with finishes other than lacquer. I used to suspect a chemical reaction, but that doesn't seem to always be the case. It seems to require contact, and cotton is the worst offender, especially terrycloth towels. They are worse than T-shirts.

My theory is that the cotton fibers are slightly abrasive, and they have been slightly hardened from detergent residues and the cloths dryer. The constant jiggling during shipping will create a slight abrasive action where the cloth is in contact with the surface. My reason for saying this is that the imprinting seems to be time, mode of transportation, and heat related. The greater the distance, the worse the problem. I have had fewer prblems in the winter than the summer. And, there is more in the back of my truck than the back seat of the car, and UPS Ground is the worst offender of all.

My solution has been tissue paper. The thin white paper that the folks in the jewelry and department store use to pack things in gift boxes. I loosely wrap everything with several layer of the tissue, and then fill in the spaces in the box with plain white newsprint paper (no ink). The white newsprint also works for wrapping, but I have stayed with the tissue because it was the first thing that I used that didn't create problems.

I have used old linen table cloths to pack pieces for personal movement to shows, etc. for several years, and I have not had the first problem.

The age of the finish is also important. Your 4-month old finish may seem like it has aged a long time, but I do know that any finish that is 2-years old will be very difficult to damage with any packing material, even cotton.

Re: Shipping Lacquered Bowls - Russ??

Mark Kauder

>Adrian, Jerome, and Russ,

Thanks for the input.

Jerome - I wonder, the t-shirts that have given the problems were clean white t-shirts. I wonder if with a little bit of sunshine and heat, they were off-gassing residual clorine (bleach)? Remember, I did not have a problem with the bowl wrapped in the (colored) golf shirts. I know that there is residual clorine in the white clothing because I remember ruining a pair of blue pants that were wadded up with a damp white t-shirt once, and it put a bleach stain on the white pants.

Thanks all - I will give the tissue paper and newsprint a shot for the stuff I am packing for Orlando (and taking my sandpaper and buffing compound just in case).

Mark

Re: Shipping Lacquered Bowls - Russ??

Earl

>I used to own a business that did shipping. Most cloth or plastic was an invitation for problems. Bubble wrap was bad. They are abrasive. If you think about it...a t-shirt won't shine your bowl as well as valour because it's more abrasive! Brushed cloth..like flannel or valoure (sp?) was good. Tissue paper is ok but peanuts (ghost poop -- LOL) was best. Even though peanuts seem hard, they never seem to scratch. They also insulate from the sun or cold. We tried the bio-degradable peanuts and they worked but would pack down and allow objects to shift--causing other problems.

Earl

Re: Shipping Lacquered Bowls - Russ??

Mark Kauder

>Fantastic - Thanks

Mark