This will not hurt the decals but people have a tendency to scrub and ruin things. This is why Jan said to stay away of the decals at this time. The circular motion should be light and flowing. If you use to much alcohol you will remove the shellac from the machine leaving the decal exposed. This is why you should stay away from them for now.

This very easy so we don't want to make it hard for any one to do. lol

If you are comfortable enough with this tech you can go over this whole machine this way but remember you are melting the old shellac back smooth and can expose the decals if not careful. That is removing to much of the old shellac. I hope this is clear.

Nancy thank you for the nice things said about the WW#8. It was a lot of work but worth it. Thanks Skipper

Skip...what if the decals are already exposed....then what?

Then don't go near them until you do this. Instead of alcohol on the finger tip, dip it into shellac with a two or three drops of linseed oil and go over the decal to cover with shellac. This will appy more shellac over the decals. Or you can buy spray shellac and spray them then smooth them out with this tech when ready

Hi Glenn--thank you so much for posting all of this! I just wanted to double check the things I found for your instructions, would these items work?

Naptha - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051
Linseed Oil - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051
Shellac - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051

Just wanted to make sure before I went a'huntin' tomorrow!

This is exactly what you need but only get a qt of linseed oil , alcohol and shellac. This is enough to a hundred machines. lol

The machine I'm most concerned about is missing the shellac, too. I'm sure the decals are exposed. HHHMMMMM. Maybe I should experiment with a machine that is not as nice first.......... I cleaned it with machine oil and it has a residue of oil coating it - so the alcohol should take the oil off? What about the decals and the oil? Do you put the shellac on over the oil or do you get the oil off with the alcohol first?

Sounds like a good start - you know we all have herds of machines........