French Polishing part 1

[joelakastud123]

would your basic rubbing alcohol work?

[BugsWisely]

I also enjoyed and "liked" listening to you play.

[milance2111]

a am interested in first coats,how you apply them whith brush or with pad

[infokaolinclay]

For a great alternative to Rottenstone, less expensive

and works faster visit kaolinclay.us

[illuminatijews]

the wood on my guitar is really damp and, it feels really light. Would doing this restore the wood?

[changeindirection]

Hi, really appreciated your video. Is that always the right proportions for mixing the shellac? What kind of a cut is it? I think the simplicity in mixing is great. Thanks for sharing!

[yeewaishun]

hi JMichael, thanks for you video, really open my eyes. @8:15, before you sand the guitar, that guitar top already look glossy and yellow.its different from the guitar that hanging. what's that very basic layer? thank you.

[sclogse1]

I tell ya...the first thing I wanted to see was you using the shellac on the guitar, and you just bypassed the whole thing. Baffling.

[motimenow]

I hope that I can find this at our local Liquor Store outlet. Other than that, would "denatured alcohol" work for this procedure? joe

[Bertziethegreat]

@motimenow denatured alcohol is what most people use.

[motimenow]

I have trouble finding Walnut oil . What is readily available is Mineral Oil, not cheap stuff but found in our local Pharmacy store. I have used this oil of woodworking instruments in cooking like a tortilla press and it seemed okay, however I am not familiar with its use in this system of polishing. Joe

[gpsluthier]

The job the mister Themes is very nice,I make clasical guitars and the frech polish is a vanish dificul to work and very fragil, but sound is power full.

[boral108]

Thank you for posting this video. Do you think one can build the first coats of shellac with a brush?

[Squaddieskin]

Luthier, a question here; I see you polish slightly differently to myself. You don't apparently use a wadding in the rubber or charge it in the traditional way and you don't spirit off. Do you personally find it easier that way?

Also the type and the amount of oil you use.

I've always used linseed but I'm interested to know if you find the walnut or paraffin oil has less drag?

You are working with fine grain woods - on coarser such as oak do you find it necessary to grain fill at times?

[chrismoose5824]

packs 4 minutes of information in 9:53

[JustWonderingHowToDo]

What should the volume percentage be of the alcohol. Here we can buy the pure one from the pharmacie at about 96% I believe, but i think that might be overkill. So what is a good number?

[Henders100]

@soupdragon1973 Lot's of college courses in the UK for furniture making and techniques on finishing.

[rodnisimo]

could you go any slower?

[mmichelson90]

It is illegal to buy Everclear in my home state, what would be some alternatives?

[JMichaelThames]

You could distill your own, or just get Belhen's Bekhol, or the stuff in the hardware store.

[NGinuity]

@mmichelson90 Check out "refluxing still plans" on the internet. It's what home ethanol makers use a lot.

[Josanizgeetar]

I have just finished my first guitar and thanks to your video I have found the courage to use shellac. After studying your video on French Polish I have taken lessons. Very instructief and your guitars by the way look beautifull.

Keep up the good work.

[grb321]

Thanks for this excellent series of videos, which have allowed me to finally get the knack of french polishing, after months of practice and use of countless other sources.

The close camera shots and detailed commentary are great.

In my case, the problem was too much shellac and not enough oil. The technique of putting the oil on the guitar rather than the pad helped me in getting it right.

[grb321]

I've since tried using an eraser as my pad, and it didn't work as well for me as the usual kind of pad.

It seems that with the cloth-covered eraser the shellac is released quickly, making it easy to get a streak in the finish.

With a normal pad I'm able to start the shellac flowing more slowly at the beginning and am able to keep the right amount of shellac flowing for longer.

[guitartec]

Micro-Mesh is awesome stuff. I use all the grits on various things, including finish and metal work. I'd be a salesman for the company if they'd let me.

Nice video

[johngolden]

Great!

[JMichaelThames]

Thanks John!