Andy Holder Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I'm just french polishing a couple of rosewood ends. I'm reasonably experienced at french polishing but the grain is slightly open and I'm not getting a good finish. I've tried plaster of paris with brown umber and red pigments which match the colour perfectly but don't stay in the grain. I have read articles about using pumice powder but I haven't got any at the moment. Any tricks of the trade out there? BTW They've had 3 good coats of spirit sanding sealer, rubbed down with 1200 grit in between, then 3 sessions of 3-4 coats button polish. Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveS Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I'm just french polishing a couple of rosewood ends. I'm reasonably experienced at french polishing but the grain is slightly open and I'm not getting a good finish. I've tried plaster of paris with brown umber and red pigments which match the colour perfectly but don't stay in the grain. I have read articles about using pumice powder but I haven't got any at the moment. Any tricks of the trade out there? BTW They've had 3 good coats of spirit sanding sealer, rubbed down with 1200 grit in between, then 3 sessions of 3-4 coats button polish. Andy. Try home-made dyed filler using the following: cascamite, sawdust, spirit dye. Smooth on and level while still wet. Sand when dry and before finishing using 600 then 1200 grit. Hope you'll post some pics of your ends when your done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Holder Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 I'm just french polishing a couple of rosewood ends. I'm reasonably experienced at french polishing but the grain is slightly open and I'm not getting a good finish. I've tried plaster of paris with brown umber and red pigments which match the colour perfectly but don't stay in the grain. I have read articles about using pumice powder but I haven't got any at the moment. Any tricks of the trade out there? BTW They've had 3 good coats of spirit sanding sealer, rubbed down with 1200 grit in between, then 3 sessions of 3-4 coats button polish. Andy. Try home-made dyed filler using the following: cascamite, sawdust, spirit dye. Smooth on and level while still wet. Sand when dry and before finishing using 600 then 1200 grit. Hope you'll post some pics of your ends when your done. Excellent Steve, I'll try that. Don't get enough Rosewood sawdust unfortunately, but I'm sure I'll find a way. Thanks. Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveS Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) I'm just french polishing a couple of rosewood ends. I'm reasonably experienced at french polishing but the grain is slightly open and I'm not getting a good finish. I've tried plaster of paris with brown umber and red pigments which match the colour perfectly but don't stay in the grain. I have read articles about using pumice powder but I haven't got any at the moment. Any tricks of the trade out there? BTW They've had 3 good coats of spirit sanding sealer, rubbed down with 1200 grit in between, then 3 sessions of 3-4 coats button polish. Andy. Try home-made dyed filler using the following: cascamite, sawdust, spirit dye. Smooth on and level while still wet. Sand when dry and before finishing using 600 then 1200 grit. Hope you'll post some pics of your ends when your done. Excellent Steve, I'll try that. Don't get enough Rosewood sawdust unfortunately, but I'm sure I'll find a way. Thanks. Andy. Easy solution - stain the sawdust before you mix it with the cascamite. BTW I suggest you test on an off-cut any solution for filler before you apply to the final job at hand. Edited December 27, 2011 by SteveS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Dunk Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Not the easiest stuff to get hold of but cellulose sanding sealer is excellent and very quick and easy to use. It's intended to be sprayed on but works well brushed. Any furniture or instrument maker who uses spray lacquer will have some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Holder Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 Not the easiest stuff to get hold of but cellulose sanding sealer is excellent and very quick and easy to use. It's intended to be sprayed on but works well brushed. Any furniture or instrument maker who uses spray lacquer will have some. I used to use that a lot on furniture, but it's a bit final. I'd rather have something that is closer to the original and can be re-worked, such as shellac based sealer. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kautilya Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Not the easiest stuff to get hold of but cellulose sanding sealer is excellent and very quick and easy to use. It's intended to be sprayed on but works well brushed. Any furniture or instrument maker who uses spray lacquer will have some. I used to use that a lot on furniture, but it's a bit final. I'd rather have something that is closer to the original and can be re-worked, such as shellac based sealer. Andy Have a word/mail Martyn White who has always been a professional with the bee's knees for French Polishing mwhite AT polishing.freeserve.co.uk with both hands and more recently a mean squeezer and box repairer... also with both hands! http://www.melodeonrepairs.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Holder Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 Not the easiest stuff to get hold of but cellulose sanding sealer is excellent and very quick and easy to use. It's intended to be sprayed on but works well brushed. Any furniture or instrument maker who uses spray lacquer will have some. I used to use that a lot on furniture, but it's a bit final. I'd rather have something that is closer to the original and can be re-worked, such as shellac based sealer. Andy Have a word/mail Martyn White who has always been a professional with the bee's knees for French Polishing mwhite AT polishing.freeserve.co.uk with both hands and more recently a mean squeezer and box repairer... also with both hands! http://www.melodeonrepairs.co.uk/ Thanks for that contact. I'll give Martyn a try. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveS Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Andy Having seen the pics of your instrument, another option maybe to fill any narrow cracks with shellac. Can take a while to do, with a number of repeated applications and levelling between each appliction. You may even be able to do this with coloured shellac to fill the depressions left by long finger nails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Holder Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 Thanks for all your help Steve, I've had another go with plaster of paris and posted the results. It's all from an article I found here. http://pianomaker.co.uk/technical/filling/ Cheers Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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