How to achieve a distressed look!

How to achieve a distressed look!

This had distressed replaced timber!

This assumes that your wood does not have any previous finish or coating.

Smooth the surface with a fine grade sanding paper, now you are ready to start.

To get that lightly distressed and dented look, you will need a piece of rock or concrete is best I think as they have uneven surfaces, just look for where you think the heavily worn areas would be on your furniture and imagine that if you were to have used that piece of furniture for many years what areas would show the most wear and tear?

Then once you have established these areas, then you should concentrate on the distressing, with the rock/concrete gently at first strike the surface of the wood do this a couple of times then stop and have a look at the result.

If you are happy with the result then continue to remember don’t overdo it as it will look “Over the top” as we say here in the UK.

Then once you have completed all of the distressing processes, take a fresh look have you distressed around the feet of your item?  This is where most damage occurs due to vacuum cleaners bashing into the feet/legs of furniture etc.

If you are now satisfied with your efforts, then you are ready to stain the furniture either your or your clients have chosen colour.

Apply the stain evenly over the entire surface and remember to dry off the stain in the direction of the grain.  I have seen so many people leaving the stain wet and this makes for a streaky stained surface.

Once dry, you are now ready to re-stain over in certain areas where you might like to create a shaded appearance.

If this is the case then re-stain in those areas but use a clean paintbrush to remove the excess stain instead of a rag, just use the brush like a comb to stroke the drying stain in the direction of the grain and wipe the excess stain from the brush onto a cloth.

This way you will ensure that you don’t take off too much stain and just leave enough on the surface to give you a very nice shaded effect.

Should you wish to add a dark ring mark, then why not!  Just use an old cup?  Not your best china!  Dip the base of the cup into the stain don’t over-wet it then just gently set the cup onto the surface and leave for a short while to allow for the stain to sink into the surface.

It is best if you don’t wobble when you place the cup down, for if this happens you will of course get an off-centre ring mark.

Now you are ready for sealing the wood grain with shellac sanding sealer, and then the bodying up and finishing using either French polish or lacquer.  If using lacquer use cellulose sanding sealer.

I would suggest that you practise on some scrap timber first, so as to get the feel of things, and that way if you mess up you won’t get into trouble.

Once again I hope that this will be of some use to you?  If so hit the comment tab below and leave a message.

Thanks for reading.

Why did I become a French polisher?

 Why did I become a French polisher?

Well for me it all begins with School, I was never very happy with the Schools that I attended, the teachers I thought, did not have the patience or I think for some of them even the knowledge to be able to teach.

Looking back I remember if I was struggling with a subject the teacher would call me out and I would have to stand in front of the blackboard and stay there until I could come up with an answer.

Despite the embarrassment caused by this, It did no good for my self-esteem.

I found that the only subjects that I did reasonably well in were the ones that I enjoyed and thus metalwork and woodwork.

I loved to make things with my hands, as I could have an end product that I could be proud of.

I found that the teachers of craft subjects were much more understanding of pupils that showed an interest in their lessons and for me, this was certainly the case.

When the woodwork lesson came around I would be very keen to make an object and then take it home for safekeeping.

I loved cutting the wood and the smell of the pine timber that seemed to be used perhaps due to its soft density.

As my School days were to come to an end I had to make a choice what field of work to go into.

And with poor academic achievement, I was dealt limited choices in my career decisions, my School prior to me leaving set up careers advice day I did attend the day and looked at all of the advice and information on display, I was keen to look for any company’s stand that had any connection with woodwork, I saw a stand from Harrods Ltd, and at that time I did not know about Harrods and just what a distinguished company it was and still is.

Well I asked the Harrods representatives if they had any positions that involved woodwork and the answer was yes they did, with this in mind I wrote to the personal department not really expecting a reply well finally I did get a reply from them saying that they had a position for an apprentice French polisher in their Cabinet factory in South Kensington, I thought yes perhaps French polishing might just be a little easier than woodwork.

I signed the apprenticeship form that bound me to Harrods for four and half years, I was keen to take on this challenge and nothing was going to stop me.

I was fortunate to work with some truly skilled craftsmen, and looking back it was to be a great opportunity and grounding to be able to develop my skills and learn from some of the best craftsmen around.

My apprenticeship I think was not an easy one as I had to do all of the very worst jobs like emptying the rubbish bins, sweeping up the workshop, going to do errands for the polishers.

There were days when I thought that I could not go on with this apprenticeship and would often want to give up, but talking to my Father he would encourage me to stick at it as he used to say “If you learn a trade no one can take that skill away from you” How true that turned out to be.

I can remember one of the French polishers saying to me “If you want to learn this trade you had better settle down and stop messing around” When I returned home, I thought about what I had been told and that was the turning point I changed for the better and learned as much as I could from all of the polishers, their techniques skills and them adapt them to suit me.

Time passed and the day came when I was to complete my apprenticeship.

In those days a new apprentice was expected to leave and gain more experience elsewhere this is what I did I was to leave Harrods and move to another company to learn their methods and skills once again.

I eventually returned to Harrods and was employed now as an adult and treated with respect, this was very refreshing for me and some of the French polishers that had taught me were still there, it is those craftsmen that I owe my gratitude.  I hope this will inspire you!
Thank you for reading.
Regards,
Andrew.

Should you wish to reply, just hit the word comment below and a dialogue box will open for you to leave a message.
Thank you.

Merry Christmas

                                                                               

I wish all of my readers a very Happy Christmas and New Year!

Should you wish to return the gesture just leave a message and I will do my best to reply.

When I started my Blog I never expected it to grow and spread around the world as it has this shows me that there are many of you out there that are very keen to learn about French polishing and Wood-finishing I hope you find the information useful.

Thank you for your loyalty and enjoy your holiday.

Regards,

Andrew.

Why does my polishing rubber lose its shape?

Why does my French polishing rubber lose its shape?

This is a good question; well this is something I come across regarding miss shaped polishing rubbers all the time whilst teaching French polishing.

Well, there are various reasons as to why this happens, mainly I think it is due to too much pressure being applied whilst in use because if too much pressure is used the rubber tends to swash up and then becomes a mess and the point of the rubber disappears alongside the smooth rubber surface essential for a good even finish.

Also, many people do not spend enough time to perfect the correct rubber shape, and therefore seem to have great difficulty in ever doing so.

To make a good polishing rubber you will need a handful of clean cotton wool, not several pieces squashed together in a ball as they will soon start to move around within your rubber and be unsuited for the task.

Next use some clean I prefer white cotton sheeting as a covering, then you will need to as I am right-handed place the cotton wool in your left hand then charge with some French polish and a little Methylated spirits, then place the rag over the cotton wool and try to make into a half pear shape by folding the rag neatly over at the back on the right-hand side to form a straight seam down the middle and then with the left-hand side rag just clasp the folded rags together at the back of the rubber and twist them together tightly and then fold them up and over at the top of the rubber-like a scorpion tail that way you can use the folded rag to hold the rubber firmly in the palm of your hand.

When you have finished with your rubber don’t just leave it to lay around on the workbench as I have seen done many times now where it will pick up dirt and also dry out from the Methylated spirits having evaporated out.

Store your rubber in an airtight container when you have finished with it and that way it should last for a considerable time.

Before you use your rubber you must bang out the residue polish, and the way I do this is to have some clean white paper ready then all I do is just press the rubber surface onto the white paper very gently and that will remove the excess polish rather than apply straight the wooden surface and risk over wetting the surface.

Another good tip is when you have finished with your rubber for the day open the white rag on your rubber and apply some Methylated spirits reshape the rubber and store it away until the next time you need it.

This will keep the rubber from drying out however, you must ensure that you squeeze all of the excess Methylated spirits out prior to use if you don’t remove the spirits and apply straight onto your polished surface it could and most probably would burn/melt the previous French polish so please be careful.

A useful tip for you!

To be used for practice use only.

To help you whilst practising making your rubber and to avoid getting French polish and Methylated spirits on your hands and then having to put up with the nasty smell.

All you have to do is, charge the cotton wool within the rubber with water and then continue to make the correct shape.

What has happened to my favourite paint stripper?

What has happened to my favourite paint stripper?

Recently I purchased my regular Nitromors paint stripper, and when I opened the can, I found that the stripper was coloured green well if that wasn’t bad enough the smell was even worse.

And when I applied the stripper to the old polished surface, I found that the stripper was extremely runny, and seemed to dry out much quicker than I had experienced before.

Also, I had to apply much more stripper, to be able to achieve the same result that I used to with only two coats before.

And the size of the can had become much smaller instead to 5 litres it was now only a 4 litre can.

Together, with the fact that the price with Vat was £61.55p.

 I thought that I had been robbed.

After much debate, I decided I would phone the manufactures and complain as I was just not happy.

I was told that “Due to EU regulations the formula had to be changed”

Well from my experience, now the product is not fit for purpose.

Without prejudice;

This is only my opinion and in no way a reflection upon the Company, its products or their employees.

I was not offered any kind of what I call good customer service, no offer of another can to try out or perhaps a suggestion of another one of their range of strippers no “Just I am sorry” not good enough for me.

I used to recommend their products, but that will now cease and furthermore, I will not buy any Nitromors products again.

Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I think that good customer satisfaction is very important should you wish to stay in business.

What do you think?  Let me know as always feedback is very welcome.

Music Gadget

Welcome,

No not this Music player!

                                                                    

I hope that you like my new music gadget? 

I just love music, and sometimes when I am reading I find it very relaxing to listen to some nice music.

Therefore, I have decided upon classical music after much debate, as I find that most people either like or grow to like this music.  

This gadget is very easy to use, should you would wish to listen to music whilst viewing my Blog, all you have to do is just click on the MP3 player and the music will start.

You can adjust the volume by pointing on the volume speaker icon and using the slider up or down this will determine your own volume level.

Should you wish to stop the music at any time just use your mouse pointer and click on the stop button.

You can scroll down the list of music, and find a tune that you might like then click on your choice and that tune will then play.

I hope that you will enjoy this feature if you do? Or don’t? Just let me know.

As always feedback is very welcome.

Thank you.

What glue to use?

What glue to use?

A brief guide;

This is something I often ask myself, well it depends upon what you are going to require from your glue.

For instance, if you are going to repair a very valuable Violin then you will have to consider that someday in the future, you might have to back engineer your Violin again.

In this case, you must use a glue that can be re-softened such as animal glue.

This will soften with hot water gently worked into the joints that will then soon start to come apart.

However, if you were to use wood PVA glue you would have great difficulty in separating any joints and would most likely damage your Violin. 

Well, I do not repair Violins so I don’t have to worry about that. 

However, I sometimes have to carry out repairs on Furniture, such as loose joints in Chair legs etc.

For this kind of repair I use wood PVA glue, as I find that it gives me enough time to be able to clamp up all the joints unlike fast drying glues.

And for joints that are loose fitting, I like to use glue called Gorilla glue.

As this glue has a very strong bond, and as it expands within the joint which makes for a very tough repair, and when dry the excess glue has to be cleaned off with a sharp chisel.

When using Gorilla glue you have to apply the glue to one side of the joint and wet the other side with a mist of water, then clamp together and when dry you will not be able to separate the joint.

Glue should I think be suitable for its purpose.

 If you use glue for repairing Boats then you would need to purchase exterior glue suited to a salt water environment.

With the advance in glue technology, it is now possible to have tough bonding glues that can set in super fast drying times.

Another glue that I have found very useful is Mitre glue it comes in Two parts, the glue which you apply to one side of the break and the other side you apply a spray liquid provided, you have to bond them together extremely fast as the glue sets in about five seconds, no room for error I’m afraid.

Before you begin your project stop for a minute and ask yourself what do I expect of my glue?  When you know this then you can start to look for the correct glue for your job.

I hope this has been helpful to you?  If so feedback is always welcome.