Howdy guys,
I have a couple of questions about French Polishing.
It seems regardless how much I cut the shellac , when I look with oblique light I can always see some pad marks. Not streaks. Is this typical?
I know there are spots where I burned the finish a bit by hitting a previous pass.
Do you always need to rub out and wax a french polish?
How many coats are typical with a 1lb. cut? I did 5.
3coats, then a light scuff with 0000 wool, then 2 more coats. Followed by a light rub out with Liberon Wax. Looks really nice. My final outcome was a success. But I don’t think that I really followed protocol.
Most parts of this larger frame and panel project were easy to apply finish to. Panels were easy. Long linear parts are easy. But wide panels like table tops…..
Easy , I mean that I could do start to end strokes across the surface. Larger surfaces I may have had to lift off and drop back in on the surface with the pad and start stroke #2. Am I looking to have continuous strokes from end to end? So what abotu thetimes when that is not possible?
Thoughts any one?
Thanks Correy
Replies
Are you using oil? If so, what kind? If not, then you're actually padding shellac, not French polishing. My experience is that a little bit of streaking and spotting when padding is inevitable, because you can't bear down the way you can when you have some oil to lubricate the pad.
With true French polishing, you should be able to easily go the full length of a dining room table without lifting the pad. (Not that I would want to try to French polish something that big....)
-Steve
French polishing shouldn't need rubbing out--the whole process is one of continuously rubbing out the finish--initially with pumice to fill pores, and then with shellac and alcohol to keep refining the surface with only minimal additions of film thickness. As Steve said the oil is an essential part of the process and allows working surfaces with almost continuous figure eights or the like. When you have completed the process, a little naptha in lieu of the somewhat tricky "spiriting off" of the oil should leave a virtually perfect surface.
That said, there may well be some times when the humans among us need to use a little superfine sandpaper to ease correction of problems at times in the midst of the process. But as a general matter it should not be needed to rub out a French polished surface.
Of course, there isn't anything really wrong with padding shellac to apply a sufficiently thick flim so that rubbing it out leaves a thin, polished surface. It won't look exactly like a well done French polish, but still can be very, very nice, but with a learning curve that's a bit less tall.
Sorry Guys. I thought that the french polish was a shellac finish. Duh..
Yup, I padded shellac. It looks great. I'll post a pic after the install.
Now I'll go find a source on French polish. Thanks for clarifying.
Peace,Correy
Jeff Jewett's book (I think it's called "Hand Applied Finishes") has a good description of the process. He also has a DVD where he demonstrates the process.
Jim
Cool, thanks Jim.
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