French Polishing and Enamelling eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 120 pages of information about French Polishing and Enamelling.

French Polishing and Enamelling eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 120 pages of information about French Polishing and Enamelling.

A poisonous vapour exhales from several of the Indian varnishes, especially from that of Sylhet, and is apt to produce over the whole skin inflammations, swellings, itchings, and pustules, as if the body had been stung by a number of wasps.  Its effects, however, go off in a few hours.  As a preventative the persons who collect the varnish, before going to work, smear their faces and hands with greasy matter to prevent the varnish poison coming into contact with their skin.

CHAPTER VII.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS.

=Remarks on Polishing.=—­Amateurs at French polishing will be more successful on a large surface than a small one.

When polishing, the rubber-cloth should be changed occasionally, or the brightness will not remain when finished.

A most efficacious improver of many kinds of woods is raw linseed-oil mixed with a little rectified spirits of turpentine.

French polish can be tinted a light-red with alkanet-root, and a dark-red with dragon’s blood.

A good Turkey sponge is capable of spreading either stain or varnish more smoothly than a camel’s-hair brush on a flat surface.

The sub-nitrate of bismuth mentioned on p. 12 is beginning to supersede oxalic acid for bleaching processes.

Thin panels for doors should be securely tacked down to a level board, and polished with a large round flannel rubber having a very flat sole.  Fret-work panels should have all the edges entirely finished with varnish before they undergo the above operation.  To get a good polish upon a full-fret panel is considered by polishers to be the most difficult part in the work, on account of the extreme delicacy and frangibility of the work and the great carefulness required.

Soft spongy wood may be satiated by rubbing a sponge well filled with polish across the grain until it becomes dry.

In polishing a very large surface, such as a Loo-table top or a wardrobe end, it is best to do only half at a time, or if a large top a quarter only.

The approved method of treating dining-table tops is to well body-in with French polish, after which thoroughly glass-paper down with fine paper, and then use the oil polish (see page 87).

Immediately after using a rubber, it should be kept in an air-tight tin canister, where it will always remain fresh and fit for use.

=The Polishing Shop.=—­A few words as to the polishing shop may be acceptable to those who possess ample room and desire the best results.

First in order is the location and arrangement of the finishing rooms.  Preference is to be given to the upper rooms of a building for several reasons, among which may be named the securing of better light, greater freedom from dust, and superior ventilation.

A good light in this, as in many other arts, is a very important matter, and by a good light we mean all the light that can be obtained without the glare of the direct rays of the sun.  Light from side windows is preferable to that from skylights for three reasons:  (1) Skylights are very liable to leakage; (2) they are frequently, for greater or less periods, covered with snow in winter; (3) the rays of the sun transmitted by them in summer are frequently so powerful as to blister shellac or varnish.

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French Polishing and Enamelling from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.