French polishing

French polishing is one of the classic finishes for wood. Although French polishing came to the fore in the late 19th century, the underlying premise of using shellac has been used for nearly 4000 years. In this article we offer advice on one particular French polishing technique, although there are certainly many variations.

The best way to comprehend the act of French polishing is to imagine that the wood's surface (with the base coat on it) is an airport landing field and that the pad is a plane. What you are going to do is to practice allowing the plane (the pad) to touch down on the field and then immediately take off again, without stopping or even slowing down (if you were to stop you would damage the base coat). As you "land" slide the pad across the wood's surface and then take off again, working from left to right and then from right to left, overlapping each stroke as you apply it. Slowly work up from the bottom to the top and then start at the bottom again, ensuring that you have enough Shellac on the pad so that the strokes are uniform. You can add a little lemon oil or cream polish to the pad to help make it slide easier (although you should be very sparing with the oil).

Once you are satisfied with the wood's finish place the pad in a jar and close the lid tightly. Allow the Shellac to dry for at least a couple of hours and then take out the pad again. Add Denatured Alcohol to the pad and tap it in the palm of your hand to disperse the alcohol to the front of the pad. Then lightly pad over the wood's surface again. This process is known as "spiriting out" and serves to remove the oil as well as further evening out the Shellac finish. The result will be a far glossier, smoother finish.