I tried French polishing a few times – bought flakes and special belkol solvent and wool and pumice and rotten stone and cheesecloth, etc… every material I saw referenced in articles and videos on the subject. I just could not get a good result.

I met someone who used to do lots of French polishing and he said it’s a very slow and tedious process. I was likely too impatient.

I hope to try again some time and I’d REALLY love to see Paul do a video about the technique. I know he had a general shellac finish video, but a dedicated French polish video would be great. Maybe we can start a petition 🙂

Glad to hear it. Would love to see pics if you get to a point you want to share.

Good luck.

Looking nice, looks like you’ve cracked it!

I am starting with shellack too, so I have no real advise. But there are two things I keep hearing or reading:

With too much alcohol, the bale will stick and take off more shellack than it applies (confirmed by myself)
Beginners use too much shellack at a time, each layer should be as thin as possible

One question: There is special oil for applying shellack. Is this really necessary and what makes it so special? I heard, that even linseed oil would work, but with inferior results, so what is “inferior” here?

Dieter

From going down many rabbit holes on this subject. I am un sure about using linseed oil. But I have found that many differn’t types of oils will do the job. The most unerveraly found one, that is also cheap. Is baby’s oil. most supermarkets, world wide.
A cautionary note. The oil is not the important aspect. It’s the method, the amount you use.
And the differn’t types of rubbers you need to remove the oil. Think the term is skimming off. would not state that, skimming off is the correct term.
To be kept in mind. French polishing is a life time learning trade in it’s self.
Not wishing to deter you, but there are means of adequately achieving your goals.
A you tube that I came across a while ago. The English Polisher blog, is worth a look at.
Good luck Peter

Just joined the forum and I saw this thread. The linen is very important. Make sure that the weave is not too tight there needs to be room for the pumice to come through. Using wool for the inside of the pad is important too. It should be free of any colour. One source is fine wool from undershirts like they wear in Italy.

Lots of alcohol (on the pad) not too much shellac. Once things start to build up to keep from burning the surface sprinkle mineral oil (available at a chemist/pharmacy). I use food grade because I do not wear gloves and all the products that I am using are harmless – I would like to keep on doing this for a few more decades.

If you were in the army and learned to “spit shine” your boots, this a very similar process. Small circles, medium circles, bigger circles and so on. Keep moving on – do not stay in one area too long.