Mahogany flap table restoration

This was in the dreadful, condition as you can see!

Reply to Dale

Hello and thanks for your kind comments regarding my Blogsite they are very much appreciated.

Very interesting questions!

As in your order:

1) Firstly, I have very rarely read any books on French polishing, track down old books from the Library however, I do look at YouTube just to see if there are any new tips or tricks but without success. They are often just semi skilled polisher's or others showing themselves polishing but in reality they are just going through the motions pretense fools nobody. So I can't help you with that one.

2) Small nibs embedded in the surface?  well the answer is in the question! If you are getting nibs / dust on the surface of the work despite keeping your workshop clean, then perhaps the preparation of the wooden surface is not sufficient and there could be minute pimples on the surface to ensure that there is no dust at all. If you have a spray pump then you could try and blow over the surface with the air gun.

Failing that you may be having problems because you are polishing with a too wet rubber and thus causing the surface to become too sticky and therefore likely to attract dust and fine grim.

Another cause of nibs on the surface, is that you are possibly not changing your rubber rag frequently. If you don't change your rag regularly dust and excess oil build up on the rubber surface and then can go nowhere other tan the polished surface.

Try this!  Open your rubber and add a little pumice powder as this acts like a very fine grinder for an extremely fine finish.

3) Have I published the steps to French polishing? That is a good question as I have written a great deal of French polishing.

I have written that might help you, is Finishing stages & Stiffing off I wrote that on 23/08/2012

And I also wrote French polishing and rubber making on 21/01/2011 Both these items should help you.

To find them please scroll down the right hand side of my Blog, where you will find (Blog Archive) a list of posts showing the appropriate years etc click on the year required and search. 

I hope this will help you in you quest to solve the problems? Thanks for your enthusiasm and interest in French polishing.

Regards,

Andrew. 

Reply to Jason

Thank you for your varied and interesting questions, I shall go through them and answer as best I can.

So you are polishing a Radio cabinet, and that you are using black polish and having difficulties well let's have a go.

I very rarely use Black polish however, as I refuse to purchase 5 Litres of the stuff therefore I make my own.  I use Spirit Black powder and mix it with French polish diluted with some Methylated spirits and in  doing so, allows the polish to keep for ages in the container from becoming tacky and helps the polish to flow in the grain of the wood rather than sit on the top.

Yes, you can purchase Spirit Black powder from a good French polish supplier or failing that there are some very good Art shops in London that have it.  If you can't find it let me know and I will give you the details. (Can't advertise them here)

I use Methylated Spirits applied to my rubber during the last stages of French polishing to remove the oil.

I have not used Naphtha so I can't comment, it sounds too harsh and best avoided.

I only use Methylated Spirits when finishing off.  Never use White Spirits as this is not compatible with French polish.

Yes, I have tried Olive oil and yes it dose work, but I have only used it when I have run out of Linseed oil, Olive oil works well but I think not as good as Linseed oil.

Rotten stone, again I haven't used during French polishing however, I have used it to age wood, as when placed in drawers or inside  cabinets it gives that dusty appearance and it is hard to tell if the dust has been there years or days?

Stay away from rotten stone, you would be better off using Pumice powder inside your rubber, as it acts like a very fine grinding powder for a truly flat and smooth finish.

I hope that I have covered all your queries?  Let me know if not, and I shall do my best to answer you again.

Thanks for reading my Blogs, good luck on your Radio cabinet.
Regards,
Andrew.

Time for a change!

These items below as you can see, have been spray coloured to look old by adding shading to what the manufacturers think, are the correct areas to shade however, to the untrained eye the shading looks effective however, if you were to look at a genuine piece of old furniture, you would spot straight away, the difference between the two.

With a genuinely old piece of furniture, we have to ask ourselves how did the dark areas appear? They were certainly not put there by a spray gun, so where did they come from? 

Well! I have worked on a great deal of furniture in my time, and I can tell you that most of the build-up of the dark shaded areas are caused by whoever was responsible for the cleaning of the furniture has only managed to clean the flat surfaces and avoided the mouldings and crevices, and if you have ever tried to wax polish and item using black wax polish it is very hard to remove it from the stated areas. And over time this then builds up and with continual waxing and cleaning the grime builds up to such a degree that it becomes a patternation, as you may have heard the experts use this terminology when describing an old or well-worn item.

Furthermore, next time you visit a historic building that still has the old stone flooring, then look at the furniture legs and you will see that most of them will have a grey colour creeping up the legs, this is caused from when the floor cleaning water and brushes etc have splashed and banged up against the legs and because the water has not been dried up quickly or if at all, this allowed the wood finish to break down and over time deterioration has taken place.

It would appear to me, that most manufacturers have not spent enough time or research when trying to simulate their shading.

Moving on, my client required a fresh new look to the furniture, hence I had to strip off the entire old finish using paint stripper, then go through the usual procedures to finally be able to apply a new light Oak stain, then for a much longer life span and protection, I clear spray lacquered over applying many coats.

French polish v Lacquer

Something to ponder over!

Firstly French polish holds its own on antique furniture, as a beautiful high shine can be achieved, and if looked after should and can last for many years to come.

However, the down side is, that it is prone to ring marking and also heat marks, and takes such a long time to dry out ready for use.

Also, to learn how to French polish can take years, and if not taught by a competent teacher will take even longer, as you cannot learn the skills of how much polish to apply and the amount of pressure needed at the various stages through out the process from a book, you have to learn by spending day after day at it until you reach the desired effect.

Lacquer however, is much easier to apply either by brush or spray gun, and requires very little skill needed.

The good points of lacquer, are that it is a relatively tough finish that can stand greater heat resistance and therefore less prone to the usual ring markings that we see on French polished surfaces everywhere.

To back up my statement recently, I was called to take a look ate some bedroom furniture, well as soon as I entered the room, I suddenly remembered that I had worked on this bedroom suite seventeen years ago!  And despite the small damaged area on the dressing table top, the rest of the furniture was in excellent condition it was like seeing an old friend again it gave me great pleasure and the customer was amazed to hear, that it was I that had carried out the work all those years ago.

Some people are put off by the word lacquered finish, well they have been around for years now, and it seems that people perhaps are not aware of the qualities that lacquer can provide, and only by writing about the subject, can perhaps change their perspective, it is not a cheaper alternative or a quick fix as many believe as the products required are not  cheap or inferior in any way.
I hope this will help put some miss conceptions on this subject to rest.
As always your feedback is very welcome.

Spray Guns

In a twist to my usual information about French polishing, I thought it was about time to get up to date and talk about the use of spray guns.

Let’s first take a look at my spray gun, this is I think a good make, and being at the lower end of the price scale for this particular company, I paid about One Hundred pounds inclusive of a trade discount so not that cheap.

As you can see that I have dismantled it in order to give it a good clean.

This is a must as this will give you a much better finish from start to completion of your project.

It is very important to ensure that the nozzle holes are kept clear, and another point to look out for; is the hole in the top of the pot because if this is blocked airflow will cease to allow the lacquer to flow freely.

Before putting it back together, I always oil all the threads and the needle together with the spring and in doing so; will ensure that all parts operate correctly.

Don’t forget to change the pot filters, as I have found they soon become blocked and once again the lacquer will not spray freely, I have often soaked the filters in thinners and then brushed out the debris, it is amazing just how much stubborn build-up of lacquer that comes out.

When purchasing a spray gun, it pays to do the research and try to buy the best you can afford the model I have, is tricky to get spares for as I found out when the connector thread at the bottom of the gun became loose and then cross-threaded itself, I was lucky to obtain a replacement so all ended fine for me.

I do not wish to advertise or endorse the above spray gun; it is for reference purposes only.

Once again hoping this will be of use to you.

Feedback is always welcome.

Is French polishing dead?

Hand French polished!

Well, this is something I have been asked many times since I first started French polishing back in 1968.

Speaking for myself, I have mixed feelings and am forever the optimist. Well with the onset of stores selling flat-packed furniture that can be taken home and then assembled for customer’s convenience, as opposed to the more traditional furniture that has graced our homes for centuries.

 I am a great believer that an old piece of furniture, should it be in need of restoration to bring it back to its former glory, looks much better than the bland modern furniture of today, that has only a short working life span.

Together with the recession throughout the economy, people are cutting back on their spending.

It would appear to me that French polishing has moved way down the list of people’s priorities.

However, there does seem to be a resurgence in the interest in the subject of French polishing as a whole, as this is borne out by my role as a tutor in the subject with many more people choosing to learn French polishing for either a hobby or in some cases a career.

Together with the increase in much faster drying finishes and lacquers, have also helped in the decline in the use of French polish, the skills to learn French polishing take many years to learn and develop and together with the very limited number of training facilities make it even harder to learn such a complex subject.

Many people underestimate just how many processes are involved in French polishing such as preparation i.e. stripping, sanding, staining, sealing and French polishing, then you have to learn colour matching, making good damage and touching out marks and much more and don’t forget wood identification, to say the least.

And on that note, I put the question out to you!  Do you think that French polishing is dead?  I would welcome what you have to say on the subject and once again thank you for taking the time to read my posts and I hope you find them both informative and enjoyable.

Oak cabinet top refurbishment

On this project, I was asked to strip off the old finish to get back to the wood as the client wanted the surface to match with the flooring.

Method:

I used a very sharp scraper to remove the old coating and this also helped to keep down any dust, as I swept with my dusting brush all the debris into a plastic bag.

Then I was given a two-part lacquer by the client I applied the first coat of lacquer and left it to dry overnight as per instructions then the next day applied the second coat of lacquer that went on shiny but later dried to a very matt finish again left to dry then returned the next day for the final coat.

As you can see the client had the remainder of the unit painted not by me as shown not sure that I like that but it does not belong to me!

The customer is always right…

Please note the date year on the pictures should show the year 2014

Comments and feedback are very welcome.