French polishing & Rubber making

French polishing and rubber making.

In order to French polish, you will need a handful of cotton wool, and a sheet of clean white cotton material about 7ins or 17.5cm.

Shape the cotton wool into a pear shape, then cover the wool with the rag trying to make a point at the front.

Once you have made the correct shape open the cloth, then charge with French polish and reshape, you will find this a little easier to do whilst the cotton wool is wet.

The excess rag can be twisted at the back of the pad, and used as a grip in your hand.

If your wood is now ready to polish, you can apply a few drops of linseed oil onto your furniture, then wipe over with your now new French polishing rubber.

To start off go in the direction of the grain, using light pressure, when you are confident with this you can then move on to polish in circles, or a figure of eight patterns.

If you feel that your polishing becomes too stiff, apply some more linseed oil onto the furniture, this should now work much easier.

Try not to press too hard or stop whilst polishing as this could leave marks on the surface.

Top up your rubber occasionally with French polish, and you can apply a small amount of Methylated spirits, but do take great care not to apply too much as the Methylated spirits could strip off all your hard work.

Please be patient whilst practising as this does take a very long time to perfect.

To finish off your polishing you must follow the direction of the grain with light pressure, and perhaps change the rubber rag, as this will help to clean off all the linseed oil.

You should now begin to see a clear finish start to emerge, keep working until you can see no more oil streaks on the surface of your furniture,

Leave this to dry for at least three days to harden properly, leave much longer if possible.


Continued

I should like to give you the details, regarding the French polish that I prefer to use.
I use Special Pale Shellac polish, which is manufactured by Morrells Ltd. (UK)
This is a highly refined polish, pressure filtered several times, which gives a pale amber coloured polish.
For use in the highest quality, antique restoration processes.
Product Codes: 3070/000 
Pack sizes available: 1L - 5 Litres.

How to sandpaper wood

Welcome,

Today, I want to tell you how to sand paper wood.

Before you start; if sanding on veneered wood, always sand with great caution as you could sandpaper right through the veneer.

Hand Method: 

1) When using a sanding block, I recommend either one with a cork surface, or a rubber block.

2) Always sandpaper in the direction of the grain, never go across the grain as this will leave fine scratch lines that will show up when you come to stain your item.

3) Start sanding using a coarse paper first, and when you have covered the whole surface change to a finer grade paper, as this will smooth the wood to a very high standard.

4) If you are sanding on solid wood, and you are still left with surface scratches, you can wash the surface over with water to raise the grain even further leave to dry, and then sandpaper smooth using your block and fine paper.

Machine Method:

1) When using a machine, remember to wear safety goggles, as the machine throws around so much dust.

2) To avoid breathing the dust, always use a suitable dust mask for the job.

3) The sander will leave very fine scratches upon the surface of your item, the marks look like fish scales. 

4) To remove these marks, you must follow on by using the hand method as above.

How you can clean your furniture

How you can clean your furniture.


Method One: Mix 50% Linseed oil & 25% White spirits & 25% Methylated spirits into a sealed container then gently shake up the mixture.

Apply using a piece of cotton wool, then wipe over the surface of the furniture and you will begin to see the grime come off.

When you have finished cleaning, buff over with some Beeswax polish.
This works very well on chairs however, keep off the fabric.

Method Two: Use a good quality burnishing cream or burnishing paste.

These work very well if you wish to thoroughly clean and increase the shine on your furniture.

Apply to cotton wool and buff with a clean soft cloth following the grain.

Method Three: Wax polish is the most common way to clean furniture, and has been used for many years now.

Method Four: Aerosols have become very quick and easy to use.

You can buy Beeswax polish spray cans or silicone sprays.

Use these occasionally, make sure that you rub off very well, and leave a dry surface.

Read the label before use.

Liberon also supplies Lib Net Furniture cleaner.  Also a good tip!  Burnishing cream will clean Ivory, Brass fittings, Mother of Pearl, Tortoiseshell and Papier Mache.


Please, let me know if this has been of any help to you.

Andrews French Polishing Forum

Welcome to my Blog.


A little about myself,

I am a French polisher and have been in the trade since 1968.
I attended The London College of Furniture and was an apprentice at Harrods Ltd.
After completion I worked for a variety of furniture restorers to gain even more experience and knowledge.
This was to be of great benefit to me, as I learnt many new skills that have come to help me throughout my working life as a French polisher.

Therefore, I would like to add and exchange information regarding French polishing and wood-finishing.

I specialise in hand French polishing, using traditional methods that have stood the test of time.

Likewise I can use modern finishes that give a more durable finish.

If you are like me, passionate about wood-finishing, I would welcome your input.


Thanks for visiting!

This had to be stripped, stained and varnished

This blanket chest had black marks on the top

The above chest had a new back leg and base

The above cabinet was stripped and re-polished

This Table had to be stripped and refinished

After stripping staining and finishing

This had to be stained and polished

After staining and polishing

This was in a terrible state

After very skilled works

As you can see this was in a very bad condition 

After restoration

Look how bad this Table was

Now you can see your face on the surface  

   

 

                                                  

 

          This was fit for the skip I think

Now look at the difference

Look at this poor table above!

Another tricky job

Is that better?