Black Laquer over old French Polish

[Jim Dunleavy]

Hi, this is my first post here so be gentle with me!

I'm restoring a piano and I would like to finish the cabinet with gloss black laquer. Currently the finish appears to be French polish but it has a few quite deep scratches here and there. I have white spirit, meths, lots of sandpaper some grain filler and a bottle of Liberon Black Polish. I also have a small amount of experience of french polishing on bare wood (many years ago).

What's the best way to prepare the surface for the black laquer?

 

[twothumbs]

Is the finish black french polish? I picked up years ago that the best way to make black shellac was to disolve an old 78rpm ( I will explain to younger members if necessary, ie aged less than about 55 approx.) in meths and hey presto french polish. The old records were high quality shellac. I have been meaning to try it as I mentioned this before on a previous thread. You could then do a scratch touch up without the need to do it all. Just a thought. Hope it goes well. Best wishes. Off into the loft for an old record...Mario lanza or possible a pipe band to select from.

 

[Jim Dunleavy]

Hi twothumbs. The original finish is normal french polish - woodgrain showing etc (or at least I'm assuming it's french polish as the piano was made in 1937 - in the UK). I want a black shiney finish, so I've bought some black french polish.

I was initially just going to give the existing finish a light sanding, fill the scratches with grain filler, sand again, then apply the black polish with a rubber, but I've been thinking about it too long, and now I'm getting worried about the new coats reacting with or dissolving the original polish and making an almighty mess. :lol:

I might be worrying about nothing, as normal french polishing just involves putting one coat on top of another, but I wanted to check with the experts first!

 

[twothumbs]

Jim. I am no expert but there plenty here who are and who will come along probably after the week end. I think you will need to be sure you degrease and make sure there is no silicone polish on it. Gets worse by the minute ...no not really. The test for french polish is to find a hidden corner I belief and rub it with meths to see if it softens. Best wishes.

 

[Jim Dunleavy]

Thanks again, I'll try out that test.

The cabinet will certainly have had household polish on it (pledge etc) - what's the best way of making sure that's all off?

 

[Jim Dunleavy]

When rubbed with meths, the surface went sticky, though not much polish seemed to come off, the rag just got a dirty stain on it.

Does that sound typical of the reaction of old french polish to meths?