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I sprayed this pair of chairs with waterbased aniline dye and lightly abraded the surface with steel wool. Then sprayed 2lb cut of shellac, about 6 coats, rubbing with 0000 steel wool between coats. I didn’t use a grain filler, but I can’t seem to get the gloss I’d like. The wool fibers get caught on the carvings and because the surfaces arent flat I’m afraid to rub through at the high points. I tried the white scotchbrite pad and it leaves little white particles that I then have to blow off with an air compressor, and some seem to be left behind. Any advice on the best way to rub our carved pieces like this? Is French polishing with pumice stone a practical idea at this point? I referred to a book on Chippendale chairs and the author says just to spray the shellac and lightly rub with steel wool. It just doesn’t look good enough to my eye. Thanks a lot
Jay Stallman
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Here is the way I rub out finishes on my reproductions that have carving. Use 4/0 steel wool, with a mixture of mineral oil and mineral spirits on it, dip this into a mixture of ½ 4F pumice and ½ rottenstone. Rub this very gently over the carved areas, Then switch to a shoe shine brush, charged with the same mixture and lightly go over the carved areas again. The brush will be much less likely to cut through, and will reach into the deeper recesses. This approach will leave a residue in the carving, that must be removed. I tried tinting the pumice/rottenstone, with earth pigment, with limited success. What I use now, works for me, but you had better test it first. Remove as much of the residue as possible with paper towels. Since I use dewaxed shellac, made from flakes, that can stand some exposure to water, I use WARM soapy water to remove the residue. Don’t flood the surface, just scrub thoroughly, and dry immediately. Carved areas, are the only time I use wax. Pick a wax that approximates your chairs color, and use a clean shoe shine brush to buff it when dry.
*You don't say what kind of a final gloss level you're looking for, but if you have open grain, you won't be able to get anything except a high gloss to look good; there's no way to dull the shine in each of the pores. Spraying additional coats of shellac, and then rubbing them back until the grain has been filled is an option.Otherwise I use a short, stiff-bristled brush to scrub carvings with automotive rubbing compound (which is a paste) in all the crevices to kill the "wet look" shine. I then rinse and scrub out the residue with water on varnish or lacquer, mineral spirits on shellac. Then I proceed with treating the high parts of the carvings with whatever process I want to use on the rest of the piece, whether it's a rub with 0000 wool, or very fine wet sanding followed by rubbing and polishing compounds.Starting with the deep parts, and focusing on them first, helps keep from cutting through the finish on the high parts. You usually end up doing a second, easier, rinse of the residue that's produced from the later stages.
*Rob,Thanks for the advice. It sounds like you are not using the pumice dust as a pore filler, since you are removing it, and not re-applying shellac over it. Since the pores are not filled, I would imagine rubbing out will give a limited amount of gloss (since the pores will still be visible. Do you use a pore filler? At the point where I'm at, can I rub in pumice stone and then re-apply shellac over it to sort of French polish?
*How do you get rid of residual polishing compound left in the crevices so it doesn't highlight everything with a white powder?
*I do not fill the grain in carved areas. I have never really tried it, because I think it would be a nightmare. I use the pumice/rottenstone, because it gives a very nice sheen to the piece, but it is not a high gloss. I would say, that the sheen is like that of a freshly oiled piece, or sort of a step up from semi-gloss. By using a brush to rub in the pumice/rottenstone, you can achieve a uniform luster in most areas of the carving. I use the warm soapy water, and soft rags, and or brushes to remove the residue from the pores. The piece must be cleaned of all the oil, or the wax will just smear. I dislike waxed furniture, but once I learned that the surface to be waxed must be clean, and can’t be a high gloss,(wax smears on high gloss surfaces) I will do it in limited areas, such as carvings, and reeded legs. The wax, will buff to a fairly high gloss. If I’m going for a high gloss I use Behlen Blue Label, or if I’m after a more subdued gloss, I use Antiquax wax. Both of these can be tinted, to match your finish, so that any excess will not show white in the carved areas. 99% of the time, for mahogany, the brown color right out of the can is a good enough match. I have attached a photo of a piece I just completed where the legs were finished the way I just described.
*Rob,You do beautiful work. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to work in my real job so I could spend time with people like you to pick up fine points. Another few questions: What would you do differently on the seat rails and straight (non-carved portions) of the legs? Would you apply pigmented wax to the carved areas and not the flat areas? How about filler on the flat parts? (again, I have used Mahogany, but already have shellac on, so pumice filler with a French polish method would be about all I could use at this point) Would Japan color work to tint the Behlen Blue label wax? Also, why do you mix the pumice stone and rottenstone? Since rottenstone is finer, why not do it once with pumice and then repeat with rottenstone to get a higher gloss?
*Thanks for the comment about my work. I would if starting from new, use grain filler on the flat areas. Since that is not an option for you, I would, if the chair were mine, just put on enough shellac to fill the pores, and then sand to a smooth finish. I would use the wax only to even out the sheen, between the carved and flat areas. It is (for me any ways) hard to rub out carvings to the same level of shine as flat areas, with out the risk of cutting through the shellac. I dislike the harsh shine of shellac that has not been rubbed out, especially on carvings. Homestead Finishing Products (Jeff Jewitt) has an additive to dull shellac, much like you can dull lacquer. I have not tried this, but knowing Jewitt’s other products, I’m sure it would work perfectly, and would be quicker and safer than rubbing out. I mix the pumice and rottenstone together, because I’m lazy. The pumice cuts quickly, but leaves too dull a shine, but rottenstone cuts very slowly by itself. The 2 together followed by waxing gets me the finish I want. I use earth pigments to color the wax, I can’t say if Japan colors would work, because I’ve never tried them. One thing I did not think of, is if the back splat and crest rail of your chairs are carved, you had better go with the Behlen wax. It is a harder wax, with a higher melting point. The body heat from someone sitting in your chair could soften a less hard wax.
*Thanks again. Would you extend the grain filler to the ball and claw feet or stop around the transition to the tendons (ankle) of the leg? At this point I think I might get out the old muslin and cotton pad (tampon) and french polish to fill pores on the flat areas (lower part of the back splat, seat rails and upper part of the legs) I skipped the acanthus leaves on the knees and left them smooth. I think the pumice dust filliing the pores might take less time than spraying 6 more coats of shellac and sanding to level the surface. By the way, if I were to do the shellac spraying method, what cut of shellac would you use? Thicker than 2 lb?
*I have put grain filler on ball and claw feet before, but it was not worth the trouble, since it was difficult to get it out of the space between the toes and the ball. I can’t help you on the spraying question, because I have never sprayed shellac. I put it on with a water color brush, using about a one pound cut. Another thing, I am completely in the dark about is filling pores with a mixture of shellac and pumice. I have read about the technique, but I’ve never tried it.
*Rob,Let me teel you, French polishing doesn't deserve all the mystique associated with it. It's pretty easy. Actually, I've started to use it on the relatively flat surfaces of the chair we've been discussing, including the legs and feet, and it is working beautifully. The only thing I add to the traditional technique (for flat surfaces) is a final buffing with an automotive compound and rotary pad for the final gloss.I'm going to try your shoe brush method but must say I'm a little afraid of getting all the rottensone powder off. With French polishing, the abraded particles of shellac are re-dissolved by the alcohol as it's applied, and this helps to fill the pores, together with the pumice dust. The pumice is like finely powdered glass, so when it's surrounded by shellac it becomes colorless and invisible, unless you've applied it VERY heavily, in which case it may retain some gray color. It avoids the appearance of paste fillers which I think can look like putty. It's so clear the grain is unobstructed. If you don't re-apply wet shellac in a pad, then of course, the particles remain white. It would be beautiful to try on some of your veneered pieces. Watch Jeff Jewitt's 11 minute video from FWW on French polishing.Jay
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