French Polish your furniture by following this simple ‘how to’ guide. Although an moderately easy task, it’s messy and can sometimes, from first hand experience be challenging. French Polishing has been performed since the Victorian Times but began to disappear as it is quite labour intensive.
Sanding: In preparing to French Polish Furniture you need to carefully and completely have sanded your piece using various grits of sandpaper until at least 400 grit. Wipe off the piece with a dampened piece of cloth to remove the sandpaper. Allow to dry, the re-sand the piece with 400 grit sand paper again. This time, wipe off with a cloth using the alcohol rather then water - we are nearly ready to prepare to start French Polishing.
To mix the shellac flakes, you need good quality metholayted spirits. Basically you are dissolving the flakes into the metho. Put the flakes into a container. Add the metho (the flakes need to be mixed with the right qty of metho - the packet of flakes will give these instructions. Next you need to strain this dissolved mixture through an old pair of stockings into another container to remove any flakes not dissolved and any impurities that were contained in the packet of flakes.