Article Index A brief guide to waxing antique furniture (Sep 2009) The Mystery of French Polish (Oct 2009) Over Restored? (Nov 2009) Antiques; possibly the greenest industry in the world (Mar 2010)

Wax on... Wax off...

Some don't do it enough and many do it too often!
A brief guide to waxing your antique furniture...

Our obsession with cleaning and dusting has lead to manufacturers of spray polishes cashing in on our easy clean, must be dust free environment. If you are lucky enough to own a beautiful antique the first thing you must do is; stop applying the spray polish, I know many already know this but for those who don’t, it really doesn't do it any good. There may be a few products that are on the market that are ok but my general advice would be Don’t Spray!

The continued application of spray cleaners in the long term(even those with ”beeswax”) will create a thin film of smeary chemical goo on the surface which is very hard to remove and looks so unsightly, eventually it will break down that lovely patinated finish and stain the wood underneath leaving a greasy oil slick like stain. At first you think this will go if you apply an extra big helping of spray polish, it won’t. Right that’s the lecture over with.. Now, waxing your furniture you really only need to do this about twice a year, yes twice. Unless you have a piece of furniture that has constant daily surface use, then twice a year should be ample.

THE APPLICATION OF WAX

Now I am going to teach you to ‘suck eggs’ because the majority of people do this wrong. Applying a wax then immediately buffing it off is a waste of time, Wax needs time to dry onto the substrate (surface) so apply a small amount evenly & carefully (avoiding upholstered areas) with a soft cloth or a soft shoe brush in awkward areas, then leave it on the surface for a few hours or even overnight. With a new clean brushed cotton cloth buff the waxy surface to an even shine. Some wax will come off on the cloth but the majority of wax will stay on the surface giving that all important protection between the polish and the outside world. This is not a quick process, a typical bureau will take about 1 - 2 hours to buff off but once done you will only have to dust it with a slightly damp cloth and wipe off with a dry cloth when you feel the need. Saving time and money.

... WHICH COLOUR?

Now choosing the right colour is not essential. There is no rule that says you need to wax your furniture with the same wood coloured wax. Unless you have a very blonde piece of furniture in which case I would use a slightly pigmented or neutral wax. The majority of the furniture we restore regardless of the range of woods and colours are waxed with a dark oak wax, this achieves a nice antique finish to the surface and also hides any small white surface scratches. Be careful using mahogany or walnut waxes, the strong dies used can stain the polish/ wax finish on which they are applied especially if applied in a warm environment.

THE WAX..

There are many good waxes on the market as long as you choose one that is silicon free and high beeswax content I think you will be safe. We do have our own waxes for sale which are as far as we know are only available through us. If you have some very fine and valuable furniture I would recommend Renaissance wax, this has been made specifically for furniture museums and national trust properties. We also have this in stock and is available through our online shop.

The Mystery of French Polish

French polishing as it was told to me as an apprentice was an adaptation of a process developed in France in the early 1700’s, ‘Vernis Martin’ or Martins Varnish (said with a slight Devonian accent I find is best). The invention of the four brothers Martin, they were granted a four year monopoly on their secret recipe which French cabinet makers of the time tried to imitate. The result of this alchemy over the following decades and in to the early 1800’s developed in to what we now know as French Polish.

THE APPLICATION

The application of French Polish is quite an art and still holds a large element of mystery to many. It is a skill that is impossible to master without the apprentice succumbing to many very frustrating months of ‘hands on’ polishing and in my case being told to “Wash it off and do it again!” So for those that have never attempted it, and the many who think it is just a case of applying a number of ‘coats’ of shellac varnish with fine sanding between applications resulting in a piano like finish, believe me it is nowhere near as simple as this. Although not wishing to contradict myself it is a way of ending up with a passable finish.

BEETLEJUICE...

Now I’m not going to waffle on in great detail about the process’s of polishing but a little knowledge will help.. The primary ingredient of French Polish is shellac. A tiny female Lac beetle secretes this amber coloured waxy resin as it gorges on the sap of trees. Found in India and Thailand this insect is farmed for its protective covering of shellac but only after it has finished its life cycle. You see, we are very ‘green’. The flake shellac is then dissolved into a solution by adding industrial alcohol/methylated spirits. The French Polisher would apply this to his chosen piece by the use of a carefully folded ‘fad’ which is a large palm sized piece of cotton wadding which has been soaked or ‘charged’ with polish and meths. Similarly a Beautician would apply it to your finger nails for a small fortune!

HOW WE DO IT

Directly applied to the surface, the fad under controlled pressure releases the polish and in a short amount of time your once dull piece of wood will come to life and glow with a slow build up of shellac. Once dried the polish is lightly sanded, the French Polisher then can adjust the colour of the finish by carefully applying diluted spirit stains, again in the same manner as applying the polish with a ‘colour fad’. The next major process is the use of a ‘Rubber.’ A 7-9 inch square piece of pure cotton sheet is again skilfully folded around the freshly charged fad and applied to the surface with great care. The polisher really has to know his stuff now and with the use of polishing oils and effort; a beautiful glass like finish will be achieved (Remember the yellow pages advert?) on to which a variety of further dulling and waxing techniques can be applied.

There are many different variations of French Polish and the French Polisher has to have large variety of skills under his belt/apron but essentially they are all based around the same core processes. French Polish is a natural organic product and takes time to harden off, so if you are planning to have something polished or re-polished for whatever reason please bear in mind it can take up to 4 or more weeks harden off.

Over Restored?

The art of furniture restoration is understanding at the outset what the antique should like when you have finished restoring it. This means to us, when finished, it looks like it hasn't been ‘restored’ at all…

I’ll explain a little further..

There are quite a few ‘French Polishers’ and ‘Antique Restorers’ who are very capable of doing a passable job of restoration or polishing. You will see many of them on the Internet, YouTube and various websites with images of a craftsmen stripping an antique by hand, sanding the b’jesus out of it, then staining, grain filling and finally French Polishing to a beautiful deep glossy finish. Some may dull it and wax finish it as well. These are all well founded processes of polishing/restoring, which although are technically correct, are not necessarily the way to achieve a restored antique.

How we do it..

We believe in retaining as much of the original patinated finish as possible.

We try to carry out as much repair work and reinstating without removing the original finish. If we have no choice but to remove the polish then we still repair the antique prior to stripping. Why? Because during the stripping process the newly repaired areas will absorb some of the colour & grime from the rest of the antique finish as it is being stripped.

When we repair your furniture our craftsmen will select the closest matching piece of antique wood or veneer from our repair store. This to all intense purposes is a large pile of broken antiques sourced from customers and now retired restorers stacked carefully in our workshop. The veneer or selected part is carefully steamed off or cut into the correct size for the job.

If we have to remove the existing finish, be it French Polish, oil or wax, we do this by hand using a either a specially formulated stripping agent for furniture or a weak solvent. Once all traces of the previous finish and stripper have been removed we neutralise the surface to give a neutral ph.

At this point we can start to think about refinishing, unless there is any major structural work to be carried out. Oh’ it is also the point at which we treat the antique to a good soaking of woodworm treatment whether there are signs of the little blighters or not. You will note there has been at no point been any mention of sanding back the wood. Unless we have no choice whatsoever do we sand back the finish, this is extremely important. We try our utmost to leave the years of scratches, dings, dents, shrapnel wounds, small stains and essentially the aged natural colour on the surface of the wood. Something that is almost impossible to reproduce correctly.

We are now at the stage where the restorer changes his hat and the antique is now in the hands of the French Polisher, He has to apply the years of experience and knowledge of finishing to this particular piece. Each antique will be hand finished to present it looking as though it had never been near a restorers hand. This more than often means a variety of processes will be applied in different areas of the same piece. And contrary to popular belief it may not even involve French Polish.

To see some these finishes for yourself and make your own judgements, visit our antiques showroom online or in person here.

Antiques; possibly the greenest industry in the world

Well it must be very close to it? The only negative green impact to this wonderful world of old wood and canvas, are the exhaust omissions of antique dealers scouring the country’s auction houses in their Volvo’s and Mercedes estates.

If you think about antiques for a while, more especially antique furniture, they are very, very green. No mass felling of the rainforests in the name of antiques and the associated land erosion that goes with it and no factories built or worldwide transportation networks created. Alright, apart from the initial felling of the trees from the various corners of the British Empire during the 18th and 19th Centuries which at the time would have been slightly unkind to the rainforests of the world but hey at least they were transported to Britain in sailing ships, unlike today’s giant diesel-oil cargo carriers.

Anyway my point being, our continued interest and sustained passion for antique furniture today not only has hardly any impact on our ecology but positively enforces the green industry with the added continued use of antique restorers and the methods they employ.

Antique Wood Store

To carry out skilful restoration of antiques you need to have a good supply of the original material they were created from or as close as you can find. Our restoration workshop has a store of broken-down cupboards, tables, chests etc. So when required we can delve into the stack of old wood and choose the right colour, species and age to repair the antique with. Again this just reinforces the recyclability of antiques. The glue we use is a bi-product of the food industry and when it comes down to the finishing of the furniture, traditional materials and methods are used which have been around for centuries. This is nothing new to the antique world, it has always practiced this, so as we are all out buying furniture from large furniture chains which creates a carbon footprint the size of an elephant, the traders and craftsmen of the antique shops are in the background producing a carbon footprint the size of a dormouse!

Own a piece of history

Next time you are out and about in Devon’s county towns make a point to stop in an antique shop, antiques are now the cheapest they have ever been, don’t be afraid to ask questions about what you see, a good dealer will be more than happy to talk about their stock. Antiques are for everyone to enjoy. Imagine being able to buy a piece of art or furniture which is part of our history and take it home with you. We have a 230 year old King George III period, solid oak, handmade writing bureau in our showroom. Just think of the people who have used it and the ink-scribed secrets it has held. There are many people who now work from home, especially so in our region and bureaux make a fantastic home-office which is perfect for using a laptop on. With the added long-term financial benefit of not losing value (unlike our throw away furniture we have today) and the continued future generations of your family who will be able to enjoy the use of it.