07-05-2022, 04:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-05-2022, 04:34 PM by Mike Watterson.)
I don't get French Polishing. It was obsolete by the time of radio and certainly by the 1930s except for hand made one off furniture. Regular 1930s and later cabinets and furniture was sprayed in layers on a production line. Fast drying.
Real French polishing uses the expensive resin from the lac bug.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac
It's also hugely skilled and time consuming. My Grandfather (b late 1890s) demonstrated it to me in the 1960s.
I can only see the 1st page of the article as it's a preview of this April's issue. It seems a serious article. Many people mistakenly French Polish 20th C. mass produced items.
Cellulose replaced Shellac in the 1920s. Fast drying and cheap. The modern equivalent is car paint which is probably acrylic. The top clear coat for metallic finishes is closer match than polyurethane (yacht varnish etc) to the original cellulose. Polyurethane is unsuitable.
Real French polishing uses the expensive resin from the lac bug.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac
It's also hugely skilled and time consuming. My Grandfather (b late 1890s) demonstrated it to me in the 1960s.
I can only see the 1st page of the article as it's a preview of this April's issue. It seems a serious article. Many people mistakenly French Polish 20th C. mass produced items.
Cellulose replaced Shellac in the 1920s. Fast drying and cheap. The modern equivalent is car paint which is probably acrylic. The top clear coat for metallic finishes is closer match than polyurethane (yacht varnish etc) to the original cellulose. Polyurethane is unsuitable.
