Polishers and their secrets;

Whilst an apprentice in 1968 and working for one of the World's most prestigious Department Stores in Knightsbridge, London, I found it extremely difficult to learn the art of French polishing, why? Because of the secrecy amongst the experienced French polishers, I had to work really hard to squeeze out as much information from each and everyone there.

It was like getting blood out of a stone, they were so afraid that one day I would / could perhaps take their place and therefore, would only choose to teach the worst aspects of French polishing jobs like stripping off the old finishes a very unpleasant job, emptying dust bins and sometimes going out to pick up their winnings at the Betting Shop etc.

As an apprentice you are expected to sweep the floors and do some tasks when asked however, I remember going around the Streets of Chelsea looking for wine bottles left out by the various wine bars and restaurants etc, why did I do that I hear you say, well the bottles were used for the French polish, Methylated spirits and various other liquids, I remember the tops of the French polish bottles after a few fill-ups became thickly coated with polish and it seemed the more polish, that was coated around each bottle, and the more it appeared that the polisher had worked the hardest, this was obviously not true as I used to scrape the polish off with a sharp knife.

The best way I found to learn from the polishers was to try to get to know their individual personalities and then they would open up and build up respect for me, and eventually, I would progress from mundane jobs and start to be able to do staining and sealing and then eventually French polishing after I had mastered making a rubber.

After I completed my apprenticeship, I left my job as was common to do so in order that I could find employment with another company and build and increase my skills and learn the way other companies worked.  I did not always agree with their methods however, sometimes it pays to keep quiet and as I did it my way and if the company didn't like it they would soon tell me, that very rarely happened.

Years later I returned to where I did my apprenticeship and now I was employed as an experienced French polisher and was expected to be able to work on any item that came to hand, the first job I was given was as always a test to see if your skills are good enough and I did a really good job that had the other polishers in aghast, my job was safe.

I gained lots of knowledge when offered overtime, I used to have to go to the client's homes to touch up and make good any damage caused by the delivery drivers etc.  I had to think quickly and deal with the task at hand, time was limited and the job had to be up to a very high standard demanded by the customers.  It taught me to be very careful whilst working on carpets as on my first job in a client home, a container with black powder burst whilst putting the lid on. things could not have been any worse there was black powder all on the brown carpet and my brand new jeans, it was about as bad as it could get, I went to a Chemist to buy some clothes to try and clean up the mess to no avail, I had to just give up, the lady client was really for my sake understanding and said: "That her Father had a cleaning company and that she would ask him to have a go at cleaning up my mess".

When I returned back to base I told my boss what had happened and he too was understanding and said" That I would just have to fill up a form as to what happened and how could this kind of accident be prevented".  I never heard any more about it, perhaps the carpet department replaced or cut out the damaged part and hand sewed a new section.

Now back in my position as a French polisher, I was treated as an Adult and that was not the case when I was an apprentice I was always the Boy.

I was very fortunate to have been able to work with some very highly skilled craftsmen and this has been fantastic for me, as for many years now, I have been self-employed and touch wood I have coped with everything from large Church Doors, to Bank Doors, Tables Chairs and just about everything in between.

If you are going through this or a similar experience, I would advise you to stick it out and learn as much as you can because, in the long run, you will have a skill that no one can take from you.

Thank you for coming to my Blog site and reading my posts.
Regards,
Andrew.