French Polishing

[Asquared]

Here's one for Neil (and you other polishing gurus)

I've read the Polisher's Bible (Handbook) and tried some of that phoney french polishing described above (shellac and wax)with very satisfactory results and I've even done what I feel is something akin to true Fr. polishing by rubbing with shellac on a cloth till I get a good looking finish. All the instruction books talk about not stopping the rubber on the surface and seem to generally describe polishing a flat surface like a table top.

What about inside corners, edges and rebates, raised panels and carved or irregular surfaces? i.e anything but simple flat surfaces. Most antiques have loads of these. How do you get into nooks and crannies and still get a smooth polished finish without runs, lumps and uneven coverage?

This never seems to be described in the polishing instruction books.

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Andrew Armstrong

[Zoinker]

Question on grain filling, are there any alternitives to using rotten stone? ive read some bits and pieces all over the place saying that u can use anything from chalk to super glue, but i have naver seen pictures of finished products.

[Sturdee]

Question on grain filling, are there any alternitives to using rotten stone? ive read some bits and pieces all over the place saying that u can use anything from chalk to super glue, but i have naver seen pictures of finished products.

I use shellac. I apply brushcoats of shellac and rub and denib it with steelwool until the grains are filled to my satisfaction and then start applying the finish coats with a rubber.


Takes a bit longer, but looks much better, and if it's worth doing it's worth doing well.


Peter.

[kiwigeo]

On rosewood backs and sides of my guitars I use Z-poxy finishing resin before french polishing. I spread on full strength Z-poxy using an old credit card and then sand back to bare wood once hardened. Usually a second coat is applied and sanded back again to bare wood.

[silentC]

are there any alternitives to using rotten stone?

I use Timbermate, mate. Comes in a range of colours and is water-soluble and easy to work with. I thin it right down to a paste and wipe it on across the grain with a rag. It dries fairly quickly and then I sand and put on a coat of sanding sealer. If you can get a good colour match for the timber, it comes up nicely. Can even look interesting in a contrasting colour. Probably not your traditional approach, but it's nice and easy.

[AlexS]

I use Wattyl woodgrain filler on open grained timbers, coloured with a mix of ochre, umber, and venetian red pigments to be a little darker than the wood. Rub it in with a piece of hessian, then sand off so that it's only in the grain, not of the surface. That way it doesn't darken the job. Then shellac.

For close grained timbers, I just use a coat of thinned shellac as a sanding sealer.

For tight corners when shellacking, I use cotton buds or a fine squirrel hair brush.

[GourmetSaint]

Does Tassie Blackwood require grain filler?

[Zoinker]

Thanks for the suggestions from everyone. Looks like ill need to give them all a go and see what works best for me. Only problem is...which one do i try first

Thanks again, my next project will look like glass.

[rat52]

Like Andrew I have been trying to get my head around finishing in the grooves, corners and all the fiddly bit on chairs.

Brush it on, yes, but then what? How do I rubber it etc.

[Blackout]

Neil,

Enjoyed your posting so much. As one of the lost generation who can't remember growing up with anything made of wood in the brick house. Thanks to this site I am growing to learn and appreciate the beauty of timber and even the enjoyment of restotaion and maintenance of the timber. Thanks for the site and to all those contributors for making the information available to those of the lost generation.

Blackout