Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Hatcher
It's coming together nicely. The traditional unbleached shellac technique I use helps me get to the unfettered tone of vintage guitars. It also adds to that old look.
I do French polish a couple of ways. With the Woodsman I try to keep it to how it was more commonly done in the 1800s. There are a couple coats of egg used as a binder and sealer and then I apply the the shellac. It goes on heavier than more contemporary techniques as I am not using any oil in this process. I am sealing the pores but am not attempting to fill them so there are only about 18 coats or so.
With regular French polish using bleached shellac and oil the coats go on much thinner and are pretty much burnishing in. I do probably 70 micro coats or so.
Here are some progress pictures of the Woodsman:
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Mark, good info on the process. Have you ever read any finishing articles by the late George Frank writing in Fine Woodworking? He always had great stories to go with the finishing knowledge. He did a French Polishing article (issue #58 May/Jun'86) that had a lot of detail on materials used and why and how to use various devices for application. His included story on how he became a master at FP is worth the read. The guy was a true piece of work in a good way.
Bruce.