Hi y'all, ...... Sure, Tony. I will talk a bit about the removal of shellac from playfield(s). ....This was a huge problem on the Queen Of Diamonds. As I mentioned before, it was really just slapped on with a wide brush and an impatient hand. Over the years it had turned brown and really detracted from the whole thing. It's not rocket science but there's a few things that have worked for us. I guess the grade paper you start with depends on how thick the layer is. On the case of QoD there were some parts as thick as 3-4 mm, and other areas about 1-2 mm. So, for the thick parts, something around 220 paper might be enough to 'knock it back' a bit. I only use small pieces of sand paper, and only work in a small area, moving from your thickest areas, giving them the most attention, down to the areas where you may start with say, 400 paper. That grade is about right to be the 'start' of 'normal' rubbing back.
A few things to bear in mind ........ 1. patience ... don't scrub like a washer-woman or you'll probably rub away the paint, and wouldn't that be disappointing. 2. Your eyes ... get 'down' and use them to look at where you are rubbing and judge how it's going.
From the 400, I move to 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000. ... So, getting down to the final grades (1200 -200) you should be starting to win. The sanding time on Q of D was about 2 weeks, I think. We just did a bit every night, and you will be able to see the shellac turn to dust as you keep at it.
Some good news .... when you get down to a really fine layer only, if you rub your finger up and down in a spot, the natural heat in the finger and the rubbing will often remove the very last layer of shellac. I hope you know what I'm trying to say here, but it does work if the layer is thin enough.
When in doubt, be conservative....in the case of Qof D, the area where the playing cards are down the bottom playfield .... if you look really hard there, you'll see that that is the one area where there is still a very light essence of shellac left. And guess what? It doesn't detract at all, you can't even notice it unless I mention it, AND, none of the cards were damaged in any way. ... A fair enough compromise, I'd say.
