Wipe on varnish over french polish

Hi Pavel, when young and foolish I used Estapol on two French-polished tables. Worked fine. Maybe there was no wax on either.

In one case, after some years I sanded back to bare wood, put on some more coats of Shellac and redid the Estapol.

I wouldn't do it again though, since Estapol is some kind of plakky and while it resists water and heat well enough, it scratches easily and is impossible to repair. Next time I'll go for a burnished oil finish. That should be compatible with the shellac that's soaked into the timber.

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Originally Posted by Pavel

Sorry for being so persistant (or stupid if you wish). You are saying that even one thin varnish layer (which is really thin if wipe on varnish is used) will still be that noticeable. How can you be so sure if you never tried it?

Pavel

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Pavel,

No worries about being persistant but we may have different definitions of french polishing. If you brush on a few coats of shellac and then want to seal it with varnish fair enough. It would work as the solvents are different. But that is not french polishing, it is giving the piece a good shellacking.

However you asked about varnish on top of french polishing. Last year I french polished our bedroom suite. I stripped it back to bare wood, removing the previous lacquer surface, then hand sanded it to 400 #, stained it with a spirit stain to match all pieces the same and then started french polishing.

After 2 brush coats, each rubbed back with steel wool, I started polishing with a rubber until a shine was obtained. Then this was rubbed back with steel wool and repeated again and again until the pores were filled to the extent that I wanted the look to be. Only then did I start to build up the surface polish, and rubbing back each time, until each piece had a smooth, glasslike mirror shine. Then I finally gave it a hard wax covering.

The whole process took about 4 1/2 months working about 4 days a week. That is what I call french polishing and to then cover it with a duller look varnish is indeed sacrilege :eek: as so aptly put by others.

That's why I haven't tried it. The finish achieved with french polishing is already perfect and if it needed a harder cover I would not french polish it in the first place but I would give it a few brush coats of Ubeaut's Hard Shellac.

That way I still wouldn't need a varnish finish.


Peter.

Pavel - Sorry, haven't been around to reply. Personally I wouldn't go over FP with a varnish or polyu for the following reasons.

1: it will only make the slightest difference to the resistance of the finish to heat, water or alcohol marking.

2: it will do absolutely nothing to enhance the finish, in fact it will most likely make it look pretty ordinary.

3: it is very hard to repair when it does get damaged - and it will.

4: it most likely won't be 100% compatible with the FP and may either craze or cause the FP to craze as they will most likely move at different rates during temperature and other climatic changes.

5: ordinary FP contains a certain amount of wax which may stop the top coat of stuff from adhering properly thereby allowing it to peal off at a later date. Have seen this happen numerous times. You can go over the dewaxed variety with other finishes without this problem occurring, that is why our sanding sealer is based on dewaxed shellac.

6: as mentioned by earlier posters, if the surface has been waxed and it probably has if it is an antique, or had Mr Sheen or similar used on it then what ever you put on will most likely make a real mess of the surface and will surely fall off at a later date.

My personal preference for a French polished finish is to education of the users. Always use cork or other insulating place mats, use coasters and use a table cloth and runners etc on the table.

Using our Polish Reviver from time to time can help retard the time it takes to damage the surface of FP and make it much less susceptible to damage from water, heat and alcohol.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil :)