Originally Posted by
Christine-
Putting oil on a machine's paint job when it's in good condition is a great idea!<snip> putting oil on it will make it much harder to fix the shellac finish.
Hey Christine, No worries.
The way I think of it is that basically the water causes the shellac to swell a little, which causes tiny cracks. Kind of like hot and cold expansion do to the machine heads themselves. My one OSMG has a bunch of heads stored in a shed, and almost all of them have this weird alligator skin texture to them now. He said that's from the shellac expanding and contracting, and then moisture getting under and doing "weird" things to the shellac. (We get pretty darn cold here sometimes in the winter, and fairly hot some summers, so the damage from the temperature swings is more extreme than others might see.)
As I see it, if a person is not going to repair the shellac (not for the feint of heart), the next best thing is to fill the cracks in so that the paint and decals still have a layer of protection from the elements. In my case, the rings were probably fairly old, so the damage was done. You can still see the rings on the bed of my featherweight, but only if you look just the right way. One day the old gal may still see a full restoration, but for now, nobody knows about those rings but me.
I agree, a photo would definitely help, and no more fingernails!! Mechanical damage will require repair.