Lord Nibbo
Established Member
Today I had what I can only describe as a lesson in how to apply finnish and it was nothing like watching :norm:
Several weeks ago we bought an expensive American Walnut dining table and chairs (Thats why I built the HiFi unit to match) several day after it was delivered in certain light conditions we spotted rings in the finish, my conclusion was whoever applied the finish had put a tin down of the table top when they were applying the finish and it had left marks.
Anyway the firm supplied a new table but to our horror the new table wasn't made anywhere near as perfect as the first one supplied so we kept the first table and they sent an expert to re-finish our table.
Today an old chap turned up from Falmouth, he's been retired for some years but still occasionally does a bit of part time work (do you know him Alf) he served a long apprenticeship and then worked for the same company for eighteen years before going self employed so in total he's got some 50 years under his belt french polishing and other finishes.
Watching him like a hawk and questioning on what products he was using, where he bought it from and how he was applying it all was a real lesson I will not forget, it was a pleasure to watch a master at work. He was also very interesting in who he had done work for during his working life (no name dropping here). He taught his son the trade and his son worked for more than six months working on the nearly new Maritme Museum in Falmouth, so his knowledge has been handed down.
So today I learned a bit about finishing.
Several weeks ago we bought an expensive American Walnut dining table and chairs (Thats why I built the HiFi unit to match) several day after it was delivered in certain light conditions we spotted rings in the finish, my conclusion was whoever applied the finish had put a tin down of the table top when they were applying the finish and it had left marks.
Anyway the firm supplied a new table but to our horror the new table wasn't made anywhere near as perfect as the first one supplied so we kept the first table and they sent an expert to re-finish our table.
Today an old chap turned up from Falmouth, he's been retired for some years but still occasionally does a bit of part time work (do you know him Alf) he served a long apprenticeship and then worked for the same company for eighteen years before going self employed so in total he's got some 50 years under his belt french polishing and other finishes.
Watching him like a hawk and questioning on what products he was using, where he bought it from and how he was applying it all was a real lesson I will not forget, it was a pleasure to watch a master at work. He was also very interesting in who he had done work for during his working life (no name dropping here). He taught his son the trade and his son worked for more than six months working on the nearly new Maritme Museum in Falmouth, so his knowledge has been handed down.
So today I learned a bit about finishing.
