French Polishing - It isn't Even French

In spite from the modern advances in finishing technology (or maybe correctly ) the mystique of French Polisihing endures. Antique dealers talk about French polishing as though it represents the pinnacle of finishing mastery. Antiques dealers are keen on stating that French Polishing is really a rare and difficult art to understand.

Nothing might be more wrong. After some practice, you can now discover the technique also it can be mastered with just a couple hours' practice. Moreover, once one understands the procedure and why it had been developed, you will realise why French polishing fell from favor. Today's restorers will explain that French Polishing is an extremely beautiful but very bad finish.

The Essentials of French Polishing

French Polishing is really a process accustomed to apply a coat of liquid shellac (shellac combined with alcohol) onto wood. The shellac is applied having a pad produced from a ball of wool covered with fine cotton or linen. Shellac flows in to the pad, absorbed through the wool, and squeezed out as the pad is moved over the top of the wood. The skill within the way is to use the shellac evenly, leaving no pad marks. Depth of finish is achieved by repeatedly applying thin coats of shellac. To fill the grain from the wood, pumice is sprinkled to the surface just before each layer of shellac. It's useful to apply just a little mineral spirits towards the pad to maintain it lubricated and help to keep the conclusion smooth.

So Why don't you Don't use anything but A Brush?

Brushes will leave brush marks inside a clear, shiny shellac finish. Right now, modern spray and application systems will leave an uneven surface. Brushes and sprayers distort the liquid finish; after application, the top should be leveled. Today, uneven finish surfaces are leveled and polished with fine sandpaper and abrasives. Caused by the abrasive rubbing process is known as hand-rubbed finish. Within the seventeenth century, sandpaper is made with fish scales and sand and was hardly fine enough or consistent enough to rub out and polish furniture finishes. 3 hundred years back, French polishing was the only method to obtain a beautiful finish onto a bit of furniture.

The Drawbacks of French Polishing

French Polished surfaces are extremely beautiful but very fragile. Shellac is soft, therefore it scratches easily, which is not resistant against heat, cold, or moisture. The majority of the old wives tales about never placing drinking glasses on furniture were developed over centuries of coping with shellac finishes. If you want the feel of a shellac finish and insist upon having one, there are possible ways than French Polishing to find the same result. The polishing process requires a long, long, time for you to develop significant layers of finish. Permitting dry time between coats, you could spend a whole day French Polishing the top the typical sized coffee table. Spraying or brushing shellac towards the same surface after which hand-rubbing and polishing might be accomplished in under 2 hours.

Its Not really French

The romance of French polishing will probably remain, particularly in the antiques trade. In the end, anything French is regarded as artsy-craftsy. I do not have one's heart to inform antique dealers that French polishing isnt even French; it had been produced by china about 7, 000 years back.

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