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classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=51678		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Robert Lak [ Sun Mar 03, 2019 8:33 pm ]
Post subject:  classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
Quick pic of my:

2nd guitar...
First on my own... (4 or 5 years later! let's see how much i forgot!)
first classical...
First attempt at french polishing...

Attachment:
classical reflections.jpg


It's not perfect but it's for me and i am happy with it! Was MUCH simpler than varnish on my first guitar which i had to strip no less than 5 times (AND which took me 4 months!!!). The french polish so far has taken my two partial days. It's like instant gratification!

Still a bit foggy. I am using rottenstone as the final buffer. Will it take the shine further still? I may play for one more day before calling it done.
Pore filling the paduak was a pain. Was more an accident getting it this far than it was by following any guide. but in the end, they're 99% gone, so i feel that was a success. I ended up using egg white on the sides and that was MUCH quicker and more successful. I think i have picked a process for any guitars to follow... bliss


now... back to bringing those sides up to the same level and one more attempt at making that back as close to glass as i can...
Author:  Robert Lak [ Sun Mar 03, 2019 11:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
ok... a little more elbow grease... this, i am happy with!

Attachment:
call it polished.jpg


now for the sides and top... [:Y:]

and yes, i know i did things out of order and should have put in a tail piece first, but i was antsy and just wanted to try the FP. I didn't think it would turn out to be that easy. Not worried at all about messing it up and having to redo. I think i could scrape down the back and have it back to this luster in 4 hours! (maybe less...)

I am so happy to have such an easy, cheap and nontoxic method for finishing guitars. I almost wonder if i will need that buffing machine that's sitting under my workbench in pieces?
Author:  Bryan Bear [ Mon Mar 04, 2019 9:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
Looking nice! I haven't buffed any of my FP efforts either. It is a great finish for the home shop. No spray equipment needed, fewer issues with fumes, easy to get a nice thin finish. . . it would be nice if it were a little more durable but there is no perfect finish out there. Keep it up.
Author:  Pat Foster [ Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
Congrats! FP shellac buffs to a high gloss, though I personally prefer the "soft" look on classicals.
Author:  jfmckenna [ Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
I don't buff an FP finish either. At the end of the body sessions I were sand flat then use a diluted shellac mixture and glaze the last coats on and follow up with vigorous polishing motions.

Having said that I did just polish out a Royal Lac finish with Mirror Glaze and it came out well. Don't machine buff out a shellac finish. It will get too hot and ruin it. It has to be done by hand if at all.
Author:  Pat Foster [ Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
jfmckenna wrote:
I don't buff an FP finish either. At the end of the body sessions I were sand flat then use a diluted shellac mixture and glaze the last coats on and follow up with vigorous polishing motions.

Having said that I did just polish out a Royal Lac finish with Mirror Glaze and it came out well. Don't machine buff out a shellac finish. It will get too hot and ruin it. It has to be done by hand if at all.



Interesting. I have never had a problem machine buffing FP shellac.
Author:  bcombs510 [ Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
It looks nice. Well done.
Author:  jfmckenna [ Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
Pat Foster wrote:
jfmckenna wrote:
I don't buff an FP finish either. At the end of the body sessions I were sand flat then use a diluted shellac mixture and glaze the last coats on and follow up with vigorous polishing motions.

Having said that I did just polish out a Royal Lac finish with Mirror Glaze and it came out well. Don't machine buff out a shellac finish. It will get too hot and ruin it. It has to be done by hand if at all.



Interesting. I have never had a problem machine buffing FP shellac.


That's the way this craft works, you say something and try and set it in stone and someone else will be like,... Huh? Works for me!

How long do you wait to machine buff out?

Problems I have had with it is that it almost seems to sand the shellac right off and even pull it away from the wood. It's always been the spruce tops incidentally that I have had problems with.
Author:  Bryan Bear [ Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
Good question about the wait time for buffing shellac. The nice thing about shellac is that it t dries so fast. You can do FP sessions moving from top to side to back. By the time you get to the t ack, the top is hard enough to set it down on the towel. It gets reasonable form quickly but it takes a good while to harden up. I would guess that buffing at 30 days would be much different than buffing at a week.
Author:  Pat Foster [ Tue Mar 05, 2019 10:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: classical reflection... I am liking french polishing!
jfmckenna wrote:
Pat Foster wrote:
jfmckenna wrote:
I don't buff an FP finish either. At the end of the body sessions I were sand flat then use a diluted shellac mixture and glaze the last coats on and follow up with vigorous polishing motions.

Having said that I did just polish out a Royal Lac finish with Mirror Glaze and it came out well. Don't machine buff out a shellac finish. It will get too hot and ruin it. It has to be done by hand if at all.



Interesting. I have never had a problem machine buffing FP shellac.


That's the way this craft works, you say something and try and set it in stone and someone else will be like,... Huh? Works for me!

How long do you wait to machine buff out?

Problems I have had with it is that it almost seems to sand the shellac right off and even pull it away from the wood. It's always been the spruce tops incidentally that I have had problems with.


A friend of mine in the area, an experienced builder, had the same problem but his buffer was spinning at something like 1700 RPM. I use the Stewmac machine, which is about 700 RPM. That could be the issue with my friend, at least. We buffed one of his guitars on my machine and it looks great. Like Bryan said, cure time could be an issue. I wait a month. I FP without oil, but I don't know if that matters.
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