Dust furniture to minimize abrasive dust, French Polish, Refinish equipment and Computer feet

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Blum 2-Way Nickel-Plated Face Frame Hinges

Dust furniture to minimize abrasive dust

Use a damp cloth first, water not only holds the dust in the cloth, but it acts as a lubricant to keep the abrasive dust from scratching. After the dust is picked up you can wipe and buff with a soft dry cloth.

French polish (continued)

Surface preparation for french polish

French polishing can cause you to heave a lot of sighs while you're learning it, but with practice you can master it nicely and have some exceptionally fine furniture finishes to your credit.

The first key to french polish success is surface preparation. To get the depth of shine the surface has to be as glass smooth as possible. There are steps to take in the surface preparation for smoothness and then more steps are taken during the polishing procedure. Keep in mind that improper surface preparation is a guarantee of problems when you french polish.

You can generally french polish over an existing natural finish, such as lacquer, various types of oil, or shellac (shellac is the base for true french polish).

French polish generally won't work on polyurethane

French polish generally won't work successfully over polyurethane, acrylic or other finishes of that type, because they have formed a thin sheet of plastic over the wood.

Clean with a good furniture cleaner

The existing finish should be cleaned with a good furniture cleaner, such as Prelude furniture cleaner.

After cleaning, wet sand

After cleaning, wet sand lightly with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper with a few drops of water for a lubricant. Keep the residue cleaned as you go so that it doesn't have a chance to dry on the surface and cause you problems. Any residue left will mix with the french polish and make it cloudy.

Let new lacquer finish cure

If you plan to french polish over a new lacquer finish, let the lacquer cure for several days before you french polish it.

Apply base of shellac

Apply a good base of shellac over the existing finish. Apply three or four coats of one and a half or two pound cut shellac. More about the cut later. Don't sand until after you've built up the shellac thickness, then sand with 400 grit sandpaper and clean the surface well with a Tack cloth and it's ready for french polishing.

French polish as stand alone finish

You can use french polish as a stand alone finish on new work. The surface will need more preparation than when you use a brush, wipe or spray on finish. The surface should be glass smooth. Generally the surface will be so smooth that it won't absorb much stain, so the french polish is best used on wood that has a nice appearance on its own and only needs a clear finish.

Unless you have strong arm muscles or want to build them up a finish sander such as the one shown will save a lot of time and energy.

Fill open grain, cracks and pits

If you're working with wood that has an open grain (loads of little elongated pits or cracks)you'll need to fill the grain so the surface is completely smooth. After initially sanding the wood with 180 grit sandpaper you can use a grain filler such as Wunderfil. It's a water base product and easy to use. Mix it with water according to the directions on the can and work it well into the grain of the wood with a cloth. Rub it in across grain, then with the grain, let it dry and sand it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper.

Working with other woods

If you are working with other woods sand the complete new wood surface with 180 grit sandpaper, then 220 grit, then 400 grit. Wipe the surface with a water dampened sponge, which will raise little wood hairs, then resand with 400 grit, then a final sanding with 600 grit sandpaper. If you want to see if you can add a little contrast to the grain pattern with stain you should use only a good oil stain and wipe the excess very thoroughly. There are some water base stains that are formulated to act the same as oil base with good application properties, but you can generally figure on a few little wood hairs being raised from the water base, which will mean another sanding with 600 grit, which could mean sanding off any color that might have been added.

If you're planning to be a french polish purist or you're a glutton for punishment the surface is ready for french polishing. If you'd rather have some time to dunk an extra donut or read a good book you can give the wood surface three or four coats of one and a half or two pound cut shellac. Don't sand until after you've built up the shellac thickness, then sand with 400 grit sandpaper and clean the surface well with a tack cloth. Your ready to french polish your new wood surface.

Check the date on the can of shellac

If you buy ready mixed liquid shellac check the date on the can. If it isn't very recently fresh don't buy it or if the date is a code that you can't make out, don't buy it. If the clerk says that there are new processes or that the can hasn't been opened so the deterioration hasn't started or any other sales hype, give him the fish eye and don't buy it. Shellac has a definite shelf life after it's mixed and as time goes on it will take longer to dry. Pre-mixed shellac should be thrown out after about a year, because it becomes unreliable.

When you french polish, especially just learning the procedure you want to have the most fresh shellac you can have and you want to have every advantage in your favor. The best thing is to purchase Shellac flakes and dissolve your own to be sure that you have the absolute freshest and most reliable shellac possible. Shellac flakes don't lose their drying ability, it's only after they've been dissolved in denatured alcohol that process begins.

We've come to the end of time and space for french polish for this newsletter, we'll continue next time.

Refinish equipment

Our refinish equipment was quite primitive

Most of our refinish equipment was thought to be quite primitive by most refinishers, especially those with flow systems and other such amenities, but our first thought was what was best for the furniture we worked on, rather than what we could do to make our lives softer and the least you can do with the least amount of chemicals to accomplish your goal is best for the furniture. Of course we made it as soft as we could under those circumstances. Not counting tools, I think our most expensive refinish equipment was large stainless steel mixing bowls, 18 inch and 12 inch. The stainless steel was easy to keep clean and would last for years.

I made tables and cut round openings in them just smaller than the widest part of the bowls and set the bowls in them. We kept stripper in the bowls and had just enough table top space to work on small pieces of furniture, drawers and other small things. The rest was done on the floor.

Thrift stores for necessary refinish equipment

Thrift stores are the best place to find most of the other necessary refinish equipment, like cookie sheets, small metal pails (lots of them with sea shells and shovels in the kids section), brushes of various sorts and anything else that looks like it would work and be handy. If you buy things with painted decoration remove the decoration before you use them so that you don't get paint flecks from your equipment.

Be careful with used brushes

The same with brushes, if you buy used paint brushes for use in removal make sure there aren't any paint flecks in them. Never use used brushes for final clear finishes, unless you bought it new and then only used it for clear finishes. If a paint brush has been used for paint, no matter how well you clean it, there's always one fleck of paint that will end up in the middle of your new clear finish.

Another plus of used stuff is that when it gets gucky and it will get gucky, you can get rid of it responibly and get more.

Check the feet on your computer equipment

Check the feet on your computer equipment sitting on your desk, they may need new shoes. Plastic and rubber can damage the finish over a period of time. There are little self stick felt dots of various sizes available at most department stores. Stick the felt pads onto the plastic or rubber feet. You should move your equipment an inch or so once a month so that the feet don't sit in the same place all the time.

Turn your computer off before you move it

Be sure to turn your computer off before you move it so you don't damage the hard drive.

Craftsman Furniture Polish

Antiquax Original Wax Polish

Liberon Ring Remover

Prelude Furniture Cleaner

Tips and tricks information

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