First Time French Polishing

A customer had this old mahogany dresser and side table that belonged to her mother. It had been moved around a nursing home quite a bit and had broken and missing veneer, faded and scratched finish, and a hole in the back. She wanted it to be cleaned up (and it needed repairs to the drawer stops). So, once I figured out that it had a traditional shellac finish, I decided to bite the bullet and give french polishing a try. I had to cut the top layer of mahogany veneer as well as portions of the underlay plywood. Then, I matched a new piece of veneer, and hand stained it with a couple of different color stains using an artist's brush to match the overall grain pattern. Then it was mixing the garnet shellac and learning the polishing technique. Lots of hard work, probably 40 coats of shellac.

Well, it went pretty well! She was thrilled with the results and it is now at her home.