David Reeves writes:

 

Groop,

 

since my first foray into french polishing was such a success (the salem bow front desk of Al Hudson)  I have had several requests by local woodworkers to French Polish their work.  This was my latest polishing project.  This was done with the fabulous Shellac Dust I purchased in a 25 pound lot several years ago.  I cheated and sprayed the first few coats of shellac then sanded back and starting the polishing, after the third session of polishing I applied some asphaltum to the carvings and the pie crust then kept polishing.

turned out very nice and customer was pleased with the results, although he discovered the main problem with polishing is it really brings out any flaws in workmanship , esp on the flat surfaces, he had several low spots where his use of random orbit sander was a bit much.

David Reeves
Knoxville, TN