What is French Polishing?

Comments

1. 
   richeytgr | Nov 12, 2019 09:52pm | #1

   So nice to see someone who knows his stuff. I love how he explained the types of waxed and unwaxed and how he talked about wood filling (hint, hint FW). I would love to know more about how he uses dry pigments with pumice. I can't wait to see him apply a French polish.

2. 
   PGMtl | Nov 14, 2019 07:57am | #2

   very nice intro. is there an actual demo? thanks FWW!

1. 
   BenStrano | Nov 14, 2019 08:53am | #3

   It's coming. We post one episode a week with video workshops. Next week will be a three parter though.

3. 
   sigjak | Nov 14, 2019 03:38pm | #4

   Excellent! Looking forward to more of this.

4. 
   Patrick_Gilbert | Nov 14, 2019 10:56pm | #5

   Looking forward to it!

5. 
   user-2999648 | Nov 15, 2019 07:44pm | #6

   The video workshops are a wonderful supplement that helps bring to life the vast archive of information that FWW has published over the years. Keep up the good work!

6. 
   user-4400524 | Nov 15, 2019 11:57pm | #7

   Thank you for doing this series. Shellac brings out the beauty of wood like no other finish. It is very helpful to hear in-depth interviews with people who have a wide breadth of experience, and want to share it. It is refreshing to hear a normal conversation and not a fast-paced, edited and speeded up version.

7. 
   user-7294011 | Nov 17, 2019 11:36am | #8

   Wow! This guy took this from the realm of a mysterious art from yesteryear (at least for me) to something we all need to know more about. We are left hanging though...can’t wait to observe his technique of first filling then polishing the variable surface of different woods with shellac. Thank you.
   Nick D, Knoxville

8. 
   Dids | Nov 17, 2019 10:56pm | #9

   Please send me email notifications when there are new replies to this post
   Dids

9. 
   waterhead | Nov 18, 2019 03:46pm | #10

   Excellent listening to someone who really understands his stuff and is so plainly enthusiastic about it.

10. 
    joeleonetti | Jan 10, 2020 04:01pm | #11

    Dear FWW,
    Thank you very much for making this video series. I have had the unlimited membership for about a year and was debating whether or not to keep it for another year. I don't have cable and am somewhat fussy about monthly subscription charges in general. This shellac and French polishing video series was excellent and has justified in my mind the added expense for another year of unlimited membership.

    I like that the video has someone who has been doing French polish for 30+ years. I recall not that long ago when I wanted to learn how to French polish, I watched a YouTube video. At the end of 30 minutes on the YouTube video the person mentions this was their first time doing it. In other words he wasn't an expert. Though fun to watch, I couldn't rely on anything he said. Not the case in this video series.

    Again, thank you!

    Sincerely,
    Joe

    PS Please keep looking for expert and topics not well covered elsewhere.

1. 
   BenStrano | Jan 13, 2020 09:21am | #12

   Thank you for that comment Joe. That is our intention!

11. 
    Douglaslambert | Feb 20, 2020 12:56pm | #13

    I really liked the way John Coffey talks. Very Larry-Davidy. I left like watching a woodworking themed Curb Your Enthusiasm episode:

    "Looks like I didn't do anything to it, but, believe me, I did something to it""

    "The first polish is to fill te grain and the second polish is... TO FILL THE GRAIN!""

    It's amazing!

12. 
    NTE | Oct 05, 2020 06:33pm | #14

    Would a magnetic stirring plate be acceptable vs regular hand agitation?

1. 
   BenStrano | Oct 06, 2020 01:25pm | #15

   Absolutely!

13. 
    user-4665671 | Mar 09, 2021 04:04pm | #16

    Ben, any chance you can reach out to John Coffey and get supplemental guidance on two issues:
    1) If putting a french polish on a piece previously sealed with tung oil and one experiences some blotching where oil spots have combined with the shellac to make a dark heavy film, what would John do to minimize the finish visual irregularities? I took a cabinet scrapper to some spots, and hit others with a sequence of heavy pumice rubs. is there a better approach
    2) If one makes a mistake and rub through occurs what is the best approach for blending the damaged area back into the whole?

1. 
   BenStrano | Mar 10, 2021 08:49am | #17

   Maybe we'll have him on the podcast soon. I'll add those to a list of questions.