Best Polish For French Polished Furniture

One of our customers who had ordered a French Polishing Kit had a couple enquiries about applying the Polish.

Best polish for french polished furniture. Dust the surface first so small grains of dirt and grit do not get under the polishing cloths and scratch the surface. French polish is not a specific material but rather the effect of applying shellac to a woodworking project that produces a tough surface with a very glossy mirror-like finish. The livening up of tired old polishes.

Apply this polish as before in a circular or figure of eight motion and again finish by going along the grain. Clean French polish gently. For open grain wood such as walnut oak or ash sand to 400 grit before french polishing.

French polishing is a traditional wood finishing technique commonly used on antique furniture. Generally if it is a furniture project I would sand from low grit to high grit pre-raise the grain with a damp cloth. It involves the cleaning and sanding back to the original wood and applying a hand polished lacquered or wax finish.

Two-parts French polish to one-part methylated spirit. Do not spray it directly onto the wood surface. If the surface to be polished is particularly dirty clean it with a slightly damp cloth and wipe dry Lay a dust sheet on the floor if you are polishing in a sensitive environment Apply the wax sparingly to the surface with 0000 wire wool Its like cotton wool or a soft cloth Apply in small amounts evenly and in the direction of the grain avoid over application Allow to dry and harden for at least 30 mins or more longer if you can overnight is ideal Buff with a clean cloth in.

Removing old finishes and applying the new Shellac to the surface. A cheeky tip if you have a highly polished piece of furniture a higher shine can be achieved by using a soft cloth and a metal polish such as Brasso or T-cut. Then do another sanding before applying shellac.

In the Victorian era French polishing was commonly used on mahogany and other expensive woods and was considered to give the best possible finish to exclusive furnitureHowever it was very labour intensive and many major manufacturers abandoned the technique around 1930. Apply to cotton wool and see the dirt lift off like magic. Before the advent of clear spray finishes that impart a mirror-like gloss on fine furniture and musical instruments the preferred method to achieve similar results was a technique known as French polishing.