This section is from the book "Our Workshop", by Anonymous. Also available from Amazon: Our Workshop.
If the work is required to be very highly finished, the varnish may be polished when the last coat has become thoroughly hard. It is presumed that the surface is free from brush-marks, or other blemishes, before any attempt is made at polishing, which otherwise would be so much labour wasted.
Mix about two ounces of finely-powdered tripoli with water to the consistency of thick cream; apply a small quantity to a piece of fine flannel which has been folded four times, and rub the surface of the work with moderate pressure. Care must be taken to keep the surface wet during the process. The progress of the polishing may always be ascertained by wiping a small portion of the work with a sponge, and when the surface has an even gloss, the tripoli may be wiped off, and the work dried with a clean wash-leather. A little fine tallow or mutton-suet must now be taken on the finger, with which the surface must be touched in several places. The surface is then rubbed with the fingers or the palm of the hand; clean wheat-flour is next dusted over the work, and is also rubbed with the fingers; after the removal of the flour, the surface should be gently rubbed with an old silk handkerchief, which will impart a brilliant lustre to the varnish, French polish is a varnish or lacker, which is not, however, applied with a brush, like ordinary varnish, but is distributed with a soft rubber. The rubber sometimes consists simply of a piece of cloth, or list, or of a small ball of cotton wool or wadding inclosed in a piece of linen rag. The cloth rubbers are formed by coiling a narrow strip of cloth from which the selvedge or list has been torn to a diameter of two or three inches, according to the size of the work in hand. The soft edge, which is left by tearing off the list must be moistened with the polish and applied to the work, or, if preferred, a linen rag may be placed over it, which can be renewed at any time.
French polish is made in many ways, but the simplest and perhaps the best is formed by dissolving two pounds of shellac in one gallon of spirits of wine without heat. The amateur can easily make his own polish, and in any convenient quantities; say two ounces of shellac in half a pint of spirits of wine as a minimum. If by evaporation the polish become too thick, fresh spirit can be added, but if made too thin in the first instance, delay may be occasioned by having to dissolve additional lac before the polish can be used. The proportions already recommended will be found satisfactory.
The surface to be polished must be rubbed perfectly smooth with the finest glass-paper, finishing off with that which is nearly worn out. The dust must be wiped off with a clean cloth, and the surface should be carefully examined, and any scratches removed.
If the rubber is to be made of wadding, the latter must be pulled to pieces, and all the hard knotty portions rejected. A rubber of about an inch and a half in diameter will be large enough for a surface of three or four square feet in extent. The wadding should be thoroughly saturated with polish, squeezed moderately dry, and placed in the centre of a single thickness of soft linen rag, which is then gathered up behind and tied. A few drops of linseed oil are placed on the face of the rubber, which is then fit for use.
The rubber may now be applied to, and moved over, the surface of the work with circular strokes of uniform size, the motion being continuous and the pressure very slight. The position of the strokes should be frequently changed in order to distribute the lacker evenly, otherwise some portions of the surface will be too thickly coated, whilst other parts are neglected. The rubber must be kept in motion until the entire surface has received a uniform coat of lacker, occasionally squeezing the rubber gently between the fingers, to cause the polish to exude from it. When it is wished to remove the rubber, it must not be lifted vertically, but should be swept off at the margin of the work, during one of the circular strokes, and it must never be allowed to remain stationary, as it would adhere to the polish and cause a blemish.
The polish must be allowed to become thoroughly hard, and should then be rubbed over with a worn piece of glass-paper, to remove any irregularities in the lacker or rising of the grain of the wood. Several coats must be applied, and treated in every way like the first.
Directly the lacker becomes hardened on the rag of the rubber a new piece must be substituted, as the hard lacker is liable to scratch the tender coat of polish. This opportunity may be taken to re-saturate the wadding, which must, however, be squeezed as dry as on the first occasion.
When the grain of the wood appears to be well filled with the lacker, and the surface even and tolerably bright, the cloudy marks occasioned by the oil which was put on the rubber may be removed, by taking a clean rubber inclosed in a fresh piece of soft linen rag, a few drops of spirits of wine being placed on the rubber instead of lacker. The work must be rubbed very lightly, beginning with circular strokes, and as the surface becomes dry it may be finished with straight strokes in the direction of the grain, passing the rubber quite off the end of the work. The polishing may be considered complete when the rubber is quite dry.
After the lapse of a few days, the polish will be partially absorbed by the grain of the wood, and it will be necessary to apply another thin coat of lacker. The surface must be lightly rubbed with nearly worn-out glass-paper, in order that the last coat of lacker may be laid under the most favourable circumstances. This last, when quite hard, will require, like the one preceding, to be finished with a clean rubber and spirits of wine.
 
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