Should You French Polish Your Antique Furniture?
In spite of the modern advances in finsihing technology (or perhaps because of
it) the mystique of French Polisihing endures. Antique furniture enthusiasts
speak of French Polishing as if it is an arcane art. Ive been told by more than
one antique dealer that the secrets of French Polishing are held by a select few
and that it is a difficult skill to master.
Finishers who are skilled in French Polishing find these statements amusing.
With a little practice, anyone can learn to French Polish, and the technique can
be mastered with just a few hours' practice. Plus, once an understanding of
French Polishing is acquired, the student will discover why French Polishing was
used in the first place and why it is no longer used to finish furniture. Todays
restorers will tell you that French Polishing creates a very beautiful but very bad
finish.
French Polishing Fundamentals
French Polishing is a technique for applying a coat of liquid shellac onto wood.
A ball of wool wrapped in closely-woven cotten or linen is used to apply the
shellac. Shellac is poured into the pad, absorbed by the wool, and squeezed out
as the pad is moved across the surface of the wood. The difficulty in French
Polishing is to apply the shellac evenly and leave no pad marks. Layers of
shellac are applied until the desired finish depth is achieved. Sprinkling pumice
onto the wood's surface prior to applying the shellac will help to fill the wood
grain and build up the finish faster. To keep the finish smooth, mineral spirits or
light oil is applied to the pad.
Wouldn't It Be Easier To Use a Brush?
Brushes will leave brush marks in a clear, shiny shellac finish. Even modern
spray and finish application systems will leave an uneven finish which has to be
polished. Brushes and sprayers distort the liquid finish; after application, the
surface must be leveled. Modern finishing shops use fine sandpaper and liquid
abrasives to level and polish finishes.The result of the abrasive rubbing process
is called a hand-rubbed finish. In the seventeenth century, sandpaper was
made with fish scales and sand and was hardly fine enough or consistent
enough to rub out and polish furniture finishes. Three hundred years ago, French
polishing was the only way to get a beautiful finish onto a piece of furniture.
The Drawbacks of French Polishing
French polishing provides a very beautiful but very fragile surface. Shellac scuffs
easily, and is sensitive to heat, cold, and moisture. Most of the old wives tales
about never placing drinking glasses on furniture were developed over hundreds
of years of dealing with shellac finishes. If one prefers the look of a shellac
finish, there are better ways than French polishing to apply shellac. French
Polish is applied in such thin layers that it takes a long, long, time to build up the
finish to a mirror-like surface. Allowing for dry time between coats, one could
spend an entire day French Polishing the top of the average sized coffee table.
Spraying or brushing shellac to the same surface and then hand-rubbing and
polishing could be accomplished in less than two hours.
Its Not Even French
The romance of French polishing will likely remain, especially in the antiques
trade. After all, anything French is considered to be artsy-craftsy. I dont have the
heart to tell antique dealers that French polishing isnt even French; it was
developed by the Chinese about 7,000 years ago.
by: Wayne Jordan
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