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I am restoring a mahogany table and i am having trouble applying french polish over spirit stain. After sanding to 400g i have applied 2 coats of feast watson primer then used spirit stain to the colour required. When starting the french polish i am lifting and moving the stain. Can someone suggest a sealer to use to keep the stain on the table yet allow the deep patina of the french polish to come through. Any advise will be appreciated. John
This is quite normal as the solvent in the french polish and the stain are both spirit and probably both metho. So applying french polish will dissolve and lift some of the stain.
When I was doing it I used to apply a deeper stain knowing that some would dissolve applying the polish.
However between the coats of french polish you can add more stain and you can mix some of the stain into the french polish until you get the right colour and shine you want.
Peter.
For french polishing it is best to use either a water dye/stain, or turpentine based stain.
Spirit stains and dyes will pull out into the finish because they are both compatible.
If you don't want problems like that always use an incompatible stain or dye as they won't pull off into the finish.
On raw timber you can also us chemical dyes under shellac.
You can add spirit stain/dye to your shellac as Peter said above but working with it takes a fair amount of skill and unless you're pretty good at it you could end up with a unevenly stained finish.
Hope this is of some help to you.
Cheers - Neil :U
thank you peter
thank you neil i thought these may be the case
I have often used a spirit stain under French polish but always on raw timber (Australian cedar) and I let it dry well before applying polish. As above, some of the stain does come into the first coat of polish but it hasn’t proven a problem.
thankyou xanthorrhoes