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For a release agent on molds, clamps etc., mix 100% silicone clear caulk and naptha until it is about the consistancy of house paint or a little thinner. Paint this mixture onto whatever you don't want glue to stick to. It will dry like a thin coat of varnish and nothing will stick to it.

Umm...ok, here's my issue with that.

Silicone is nasty stuff, and does even nastier stuff to wood. It can wreak havoc with your finish if it gets on the wood. I use silicone as little as possible in my shop. The only thing I use it for is sealing vacuum presses. This weekend I sealed one up, and the silicone never set. Yep, still a sticky liquid after 48 hours still. Adding naptha to it doesn't sound like a good thing either.

I heartily recommend rethinking doing this...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Don that is just what I was thinking. you don't know the trouble I had with a tops finish due to microscopic contamination of Silicone. I had rather shoot my toe off to trim the nail then get any form of silicone any where near the guitar. now I do use it to calk the truss rod slot. but I am so very carfull it is unreal.

Daddy-o. At the risk of sounding like we're ganging up on you, Don and Michael are quite right. Silicone and finish don't mix. It will fish-eye your finish and you'll be fighting it forever. If you don't believe me/us, grab a can of paint and try to cover the silicone you put on the mold. If I were you, I'd use something like UHMW as a release agent. Pwoolson39062.7281828704

Shellac will stick to almost anything but even shellac will not cover and seal out silicone. It just keeps on penetrating through. You probably don't want to here my opinon of what you should do with the mold you did this too. but the truth is this can cause you big problems.

I was reading somewhere that there's an additive used in the auto paint trade that contains silicone. You mix it in with the paint before spraying. It's the only way to get paint to stick to a surface that's contaminated with silicone. Something about matching the surface tension.

Of course then you'd contaminate your shop and/or ruin a spray gun. But it works apparently.

ANy finish will do the trick. Shellac or lacquer.

If you do get contaminated with silicon you can save the day if your'e shooting lacquer by adding Smoothy, available at better paint stores.

Dean

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Dean

[QUOTE=PaulB] I was reading somewhere that there's an additive used in the auto paint trade that contains silicone. You mix it in with the paint before spraying. It's the only way to get paint to stick to a surface that's contaminated with silicone. Something about matching the surface tension.

Of course then you'd contaminate your shop and/or ruin a spray gun. But it works apparently.[/QUOTE]

What you say about the silicone additive is true Paul and as you suggest, once you shot it, you got it, everywhere.

Cheers

Kim

I can't agree enough with every one who is warning about silicone.
You can get teflon release agents pretty readily.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Multiple Carnuba waxings work well too!

      Even trichloroethylene won't get that silicone crap out and trichlor will pull the oil out of your skin!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Trichloroethylene is very carcinogenic. I would never have that stuff in my shop. There are a lot of suitable substitutes for TCE.

[quote]Trichloroethylene is very carcinogenic[/quote]

Yea it is! But name one that's better! I don't recommend it at all, but it's clearly the most powerful oil based solvent I've come across, and it still doesn't touch silicone!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Naptha, mineral spirits, Bestine, and acetone are all effective cleaning solvents and they are much less toxic or mutagenic than TCE. They don't touch silicone either <g>

There is a good reason why TCE has been largely replaced with other solvents in general industry.BarryDaniels39063.7205439815

Lacquer thinner seems to work pretty good for me...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."