Sunday 15 January 2012

French polishing tips for dummies











  French polishing tips for idiots so you don't need to read any more!!!!





Note, Dry, The polish is dry to touch but not hardened off. On average this takes ten minutes to dry in a warm dry place.

Hardening off, several days for all the solvents to evaporate out of the polish. The more polish you put on quickly the longer the polish will take to harden off as it has to penetrate the layers of polish on top of it. As the polish hardens off the polish sinks into the wood, actually it is the solvents evaporating that gives it the appearance that the wood is absorbing the polish. People say the polish has sunk! It has not the solvents have evaporate and it appears to shrink
Make a jar with a brush suspended in it, a blusher brush for ladies make up can be good. Only use polish from one source, by this I mean don't mix button with pale polish. Don't put separate polishes on top of each other they can react as they may have different solvents in their formula. This might sound obvious but don't use one rubber for all polishes. Keep a separate rubber for each type of polish. If you start a new batch of polish start a new rubber. Rubbers are better when they have been worked in. Use a fine cloth for the cover and cotton wool. Make your rubber the size of your hand. It should fill the palm of your hand comfortably,When held in the fingers this is important and often overlooked in books etc.  The reasons are, that it is easier to hold in the fingers giving you more control. Also a larger rubber holds more polish so you keep your rhythm going and don't keep breaking off to recharge the rubber. The advice is that you cannot get into the corners with a big rubber. Rubbish, what counts is the shape of the rubber especially the toe. There are occasions when you need a small rubber say for a bridge where size does matter but the old saying the bigger the better still applies.

My Oilless French Polishing technique as follows.

           Sand the wood as normal so it is smooth and flat. Brush on a coat of polish to seal the grain and highlight any defects. Fill the small defects with wax stopping etc. Sand back the polish HARD with 320 lubasil. Wipe off sanding dust with your hand. Don’t use a woollen jumper or wear one or you will have hairs all over it.  You can of course use a tack rag to clean the dust off. This fills the grain and smoothes the surface ready for repolishing. Brush on another coat and resand, when dry allow ten to fifteen minutes between coats depending on temperature and humidity. Do this three or more times depending on the porosity and grain of the wood used. Once the wood is sanded look at it carefully, if it is covered in shiny pockets carry on brushing and sanding until the wood looks matt all over. The polish will sink in anyway after it has hardened off. Charge your rubber with polish use transparent or HL polish from a good supplier, Jenkins or Mylands etc. Don't bother to make your own its not worth the hassle and is not forced to be as good. Leave it to the experts. I thin the polish slightly with 10 percent meths in the jar before applying to the rubber. The rubber wants to leave a wet trail on the surface with a light pressure applied. Leave 24 hours to dry before burnishing. Never stop with a rubber. Always fly the rubber like glider on and off the wood. No Harrier Jump Jets. Just rubber it up, by wiping it over and leave a wet trail. Work with a wet edge and if you miss a bit leave it until the next pass and make sure you get it then. Don't try and body it up without oil (you can if you know what you are doing) you will just drag the finish. It is important not to go over the same ground because you will take off the polish you just put on. Let the polish dry 10 minutes before repolishing. I know it is just a case of wiping a wet rubber over the surface to build up the finish but it does work.  Do try it for yourself in front of the TV, any channel with adverts! No BBC! As soon as the adverts come on give it a polish and leave to dry until the next advert. Repeat the process again and again until you are satisfied with the finish. Never, never, never, ever let the rubber stop on the surface.

Always finish rubbering with the grain. Can be a problem on Burr walnut!!!!!

I do use oil when I want to build up a finish very fast and I’m not worried about it hardening off. I was taught the traditional method, of grain filling, bodying up and flattening off etc but the OillessBodying up = just wiping over with a wet rubber and a light denib. Flattening off is the same as is spiriting off or stiffing out. The advantages are no oil, thus a faster drying and hardening off time. Speed, no grainfilling which I like as the polish and sanding dust gives a perfect match to the wood giving the wood a greater depth.  I forgot to mention the sole of the rubber should be flat rather than rounded. I had better point out that the "whack it on and sand it down hard method" is only on the brushing stage, the rubber stage is just a light denib  I would respectfully suggest you use the oilless technique on a board 2 to 3 square feet to get the hang of it. Like with any technique it requires practice. One of the hardest problems is to leave a gap when you miss it. Just bear in mind to cover it on the next pass. The problem is that French polishing is treated as a black art and there are a lot of so called experts who have never used a rubber in anger.  They never earnt a living from it. I always remember a good piece of advice someone told me years ago "if someone tells you something and it makes sense, try it out for yourself. If it works for you keep it, it not discard it" I know that this works.

What can go wrong.

I gave this advice to someone who complained to me that it did not work I asked a few questions and found out that he had the polish in a jar in his garden shed in full sunlight for over twenty years! It’s a wonder it came out of the jar at all! I respectfully pointed out that he need to invest in a new batch of polish as his had gone off! He did and has been happily polishing ever since.

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