Mods please be gentle with me.
Hi,
Some 30 years ago I made a veneered sideboard and hoped to finish it with French polish (shellac). I bought a book entitled Staining and Polishing by the author Charles H. Hayward.
The author went into great detail outlining each stage in French polishing; these being Staining, Filling-in,Fadding,Colouring,Coating,Bodying and finishing off using one of three methods; Stiffing, Spiriting and Acid finish.
After reading the book and now being terrified of French polishing; I finished the sideboard using varnish. The book was put away until about six years ago when I became interested in radio and in particular needing to French polish radio cabinets.
Over the last six years I’ve successfully French polished in excess of twenty wooden radio cabinets and gained more confidence with each; refining my method and technique until present when I can go into my workshop and can produce a decent French polish job whilst working in a very confined space and enduring a black hole called a Yorkshire winter making everything gloomy.
I bought a Bush SW45 radio a few years ago and at the time thought it to be the ugliest set I had ever seen; generally it was in decent condition and the cabinet finish was quite good but it looked very somber indeed not aided by its design and I thought had I not bought it the set would have been possibly stripped for its valves with the remainder going to landfill. The cabinet is finished in veneers of Australian Walnut with dark bands of Macassar Ebony. Everything about it looked dull even after “T” cutting so I decided to use this set as a donor for this thread.
My method of French polishing involves only three stages having been reduced to the very basic possible. Applying initial polish coats with a brush; flatting and finishing with the traditional French polishing rubber.
The set was carefully taken apart leaving the bare cabinet which was stripped of its original finish using a very sharp cabinet scraper; repairs were carried out and both sides of the cabinet stained with Blackfriar Wood Dye Walnut stain to balance the colour better; the front and top panels left unstained. I was somewhat disappointed after scraping expecting to see better contrast between the veneers and the scraping was difficult because the veneers although dead actually felt dead and it was like scraping charcoal as I removed a thin layer hoping to reveal better colour below; dust was produced rather than shavings and this is the only cabinet out of many to respond in this manner.
After a good flatting all over with 600 grit abrasive paper working with the grain; both sides were stained but not the front or top; then once the stain had completely dried the whole cabinet was given a coat of RAW LINSEED oil to bring out the colour and it made a tremendous difference. The excess oil was removed with clean cloth and the cabinet was allowed to completely dry in a warm place for a few days. Oily rags must never be piled as they can self ignite.
French polishing takes a lot of time and each stage must not be rushed or failure is sure to follow; I estimated three weeks for this job. I mixed up a new batch of Button Shellac and even this proved difficult; in the past I’ve used flaked shellac but this shellac was bought from eBay and was supplied like large buttons in the form of flat discs which I broke into smaller pieces using a hammer. A clean jam jar was filled to about a third with the shellac and two thirds of methylated spirit was poured in; the jar top being secured. This shellac took over a week to dissolve even though I repeatedly shook the jar.
The bench was wiped clean as was the cabinet; the shellac hadn’t fully dissolved but not wanting to wait any longer I applied two very heavy coats of shellac onto the cabinet using an artists No.2 fan brush allowing the first coat to dry for an hour; the cabinet was then left overnight. Like the scraping the shellac didn’t want to behave, as I looked at it the following morning I couldn’t believe how bad it looked; the shellac was full of what appeared to be grit and had gone on leaving tramlines that Mallard could have run on. At least the grain was now filled.
Now for the first very important point and it’s written in stone. Any cabinet with stain added must be treated with the utmost respect because if stain suffers any damage whatsoever it is extremely hard to put right; I can’t stress this enough. With this in mind I used 600 grit abrasive paper and spent ages flatting the shellac but here is a tip that is just brilliant which I picked up a while ago; I use TALCUM POWDER as a lubricant whilst flatting; it smells nice and makes the abrasive paper last virtually forever; the powder prevents the abrasive grit becoming coated with shellac which in turn would leave indentations in the form of shallow lines that are difficult to remove. The paper soon loses the initial “bite” and settles down but much care is needed at this stage to prevent cutting through the shellac at edges or openings such as around the knob or grille holes; a careless swipe over a corner is enough to leave a very light coloured line as the bare veneer is exposed and once this happens it is extremely difficult to rectify. The shellac dust mixes with the talcum powder and I keep wiping it with my free hand to watch progress, I find adding a second piece of abrasive paper inside the first gives a bit more control and prevent the paper folding up. Finger nails are a real hazard whilst flatting and need to be cut short. As flatting progresses the shellac will start to look dull with lines of gloss becoming very clear; these lines are where the shellac has settled into the grain filling the grain; it’s important at this stage to ensure there is enough thickness of shellac to allow the flatting to remove these lines leaving the entire surface feeling very smooth and looking dull; if not I dust off completely and add more brush coats of shellac; under no circumstances must I break through to the stain. A lot of patience is called for because this work cannot be rushed and this flatting needs to be done correctly.
With many people made homeless due to flooding the weather remained wet and very dark; in my workshop with a single strip light I carried on best as I could and finally dusted the cabinet off and made a start at applying the shellac using a traditional French polishing rubber made of skin wadding inner and a clean soft cotton cloth outer covering. For rubber making instructions please visit;
http://www.aw-antiques-collectibles....-polishing.php
Standard cotton wool is no good for use in a rubber and obtaining the correct skin wadding was virtually impossible for me at first; a supplier is given later. The rubber covering cloth is critical if good results are to be expected. I avoid all cloth that is hard or shiny; the cloth needs to be something like a worn out men’s hanky; one that is soft: threadbare and very thin. Some use Tee shirt material but I find it has too much “give” for my liking and tends to pucker up whereas the sole of the rubber has to remain smooth and flat at all times. Worn out cotton bed sheets can also be used.
I always secure two pages of an old TV times to the bench top with masking tape near where I’m working on the cabinet; this gives me a clean working area where I charge the rubber with shellac and before using the rubber on the cabinet it is important to press the sole of the rubber onto the paper; this is a good test to see if the rubber is charged correctly; if too wet shellac will ooze out and if too dry it won’t leave a mark. I find it just right when the paper is wet but not having any ridges of polish showing; this comes quickly with a bit of practice and must be done to distribute the polish within the rubber every time the rubber is freshly charged. On no account must I use a rubber that is too wet in the hope of speeding up the job. I also have four clean jam jars on the bench; one for meths to clean the brush; one for the polishing rubber keeping it airtight; one for thick shellac and one for thinned shellac.
I use Latex gloves bought from Poundland for hand protection because dried shellac takes about a week to remove otherwise. With a correctly charged rubber and the cabinet flatted and dusted off I apply the shellac using circular movements of approximately 3” diameter doing one panel at a time; as the first panel is covered I move onto the second panel working around the cabinet; as the last panel is done the first is dry and I can repeat this many times until the surface starts to feel a bit tacky which is the warning sign to stop and let the shellac dry for an hour or so. As the rubber becomes depleted of shellac more is added to the wadding removing the outer cotton cloth each time and testing on the paper; the rubber must never be dipped into shellac but must be charged correctly.
The rubber must be kept moving at all times whilst in contact and the slightest delay can result in either the rubber sticking or tearing up the previously applied shellac; if this happens and it does for a beginner; leave well alone for an hour then carry on as before. Trying too hard to build up shellac thickness quickly by spending too much time on a panel actually works the opposite way as polish tends to get removed rather than added. If any trim or mouldings stand proud of the general surface of the veneer these cause other difficulties as a rubber doesn’t like to be forced into internal corners; this cabinet has two wooden bars running across the grille and also the dial opening trim stands proud; both these prevented clean strokes of the rubber; the narrow bit of veneer between the end of the bars and the dial opening was the worst and from previous experience I added a good thickness of polish here whilst brushing; all I needed to do was to ensure a layer of shellac was quickly added watching out for runs or overlapping tide marks and get out of there as fast as possible before the surface became tacky. Casual strokes of the rubber are used not too fast and not too slow.
More shellac is added to the cabinet still using circular movements building up the thickness and when I’m happy with the result thin the shellac with meths making it quite thin and re-charge the rubber. Now I use straight strokes of the rubber using a motion just like a plane landing and taking off; I never start a stroke at the edge of a panel as this would result in the edge acting like a scraper resulting in runs which are unseen onto adjacent panels; if this happens and it did at first the best thing to do is leave the runs well alone to harden then continue adding shellac over them because to panic and remove them too soon using abrasive paper will only make matters worse; they will still need to be removed but only when there is a good surrounding thickness of shellac. Panels are worked both ways using straight strokes and eventually I start to see the finish improving as the circular layers of shellac become less obvious.
On this cabinet though it was having none of it and responded with a surface full of little bumps and tiny bits of debris embedded in it. This was new to me and most frustrating as I take a lot of care but due to the inadequate workshop lighting I was feeling my way rather than seeing it so I needed to try something different?
I let the shellac completely harden overnight and the following day I spent over six hours flatting using Talcum powder and 1200 grit wet or dry abrasive paper; when I finally finished the cabinet was perfectly smooth and had a mat finish all over; by now I was in some pain as my arms ached and in bed I couldn’t sleep as my neck and shoulders hurt so much from the amount of effort expended on the marathon flatting session. So far nothing had gone right and the cabinet just tested my patience to the limit. The following day I walked away from it and made myself busy collecting leaves and tidying up outside during a dry spell; I felt worn out and couldn’t face another day using my arms applying shellac. Normally I enjoy French polishing even when things don’t quite go as planned but this job was unlike any of the other cabinets I had completed and it was playing games with me.
A day away from the job worked wonders; the next session I was eager and more determined than ever to get this cabinet looking like I wanted it to look. I double checked it was well dusted off and changed the outer cloth on the rubber; the rubber was freshly charged with thinned shellac and tested on the paper and right from the very first stroke I knew the cabinet had finally shaken hands with me and made friends. During the day I kept popping into the workshop and applying more layers of shellac using the rubber allowing each layer to dry for an hour or so then suddenly it hit me; I was done; the cabinet was again left overnight for the shellac to dry. I never use linseed oil to lubricate the rubber as this causes more problems than it solves due to the fact the oil needs removing later and if trapped can appear through the surface at a later date.
For a beginner to French polishing I would suggest selecting a cabinet with flat surfaces allowing full access for rubber strokes; purchase ready mixed polish and don’t rush. To avoid all the frustrations and wasted time which I spent trying to find materials especially the skin wadding may I suggest visiting
http://www.restoration-materials.co.uk/
This company has all the hard to find finishing materials under one roof and is like a sweet shop to a child.
The re-finishing of this Bush couldn’t have gone worse, it refused to be scraped like other cabinets; mixing the polish was a disaster; brushing the polish gave extremely poor results; flatting for six hours nearly killed me, the lighting was inadequate; the weather was terrible and very dark; bench space was cramped; our central heating boiler was out of action for the best part of a week; sales people kept breaking me off; telephone calls from people like British Gas at Sheffield wanting to sell me electricity and others asking if I had debt problems broke me off at the most inconvenient times; people pushing white bags through the letter box begging for household goods all invaded my peace and calm and as I write more junk has just landed on the carpet.
Please take all the above into account whilst looking at the pictures and if I can succeed given these conditions then surely anyone can. Without doubt the lighting and mixing of polish caused most of the problems with both being under my control; I’ll improve the lighting and give this button polish a much longer time to dissolve in future. I re-finished two cabinets during summer and these went perfectly with each being completed in a week so please don’t be put off by my experience with this Bush because I did enjoy working on it and it couldn’t have worked out better for this thread as it indicates whatever problems are encountered they can be overcome with a lovely polished cabinet at the end.
The main points once again;
Exercise a lot of patience and don’t try to rush.
Use a sharp scraper and do any repairs to the cabinet.
Flat the cabinet with abrasive paper and dust off.
Apply stain as required and allow plenty of time for drying.
Apply linseed oil; wipe away excess and allow plenty of time to dry.
Apply enough brush coats of shellac for grain filling and flatting without break through.
Flat with 600 grit paper lubricated with talcum powder and dust off;
Apply shellac using a rubber.
Stand back and admire.
In six hours of flatting I used less than one sheet of 1200 grit paper due to lubricating with talc; normally I use 600 grit but as nothing had gone right decided to settle down and proceed very slowly hence the fine grit. If the surface looks poor then flatting can be done at any time as long as extreme care is taken not to break through the finish. French polishing is very easy using this method and in fact taking it to extremes the shellac could be applied with a sweeping brush as long as care was taken with flatting and then it could be burnished using burnishing cream; not recommended of course.
For cabinet preparation prior to french polishing please visit my other threads covering; Missing veneer; Veneering for beginners and Cabinet scraper.
I’m still very much a novice at French polishing but enjoy cabinet work far more than chassis work finding it very rewarding and being able to stand back and ask myself “Did I do that?” Over the next few days I’ll fit a new grille cloth and assemble everything then add before and after pictures. Hope this is of interest and encourages others to have a go the hardest part is making a start in fact with these notes you now have the benefit of my experience gained over a few years and don’t need to search out materials. Please try it for yourself; it’s fun. By the way was it worth it?
Col.