Bulls Eye Polish.

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Fred Page

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Kington, Herefordshire, UK
Zinsser Wiping Polish (Bulls Eye).
A query came up about Zinsser products some time ago but I would like to ask (in the hope that Terry Smart reads this) which UK product is considered equivalent to what Zinsser advertise as a French polish Revolution - a wiping French Polish?
Thanks in anticipation.
Fred Page
ps I'm assuming this American product is not available in the UK.
F.
 
No Chas.
The WWW doesn't help because their wiping polish isn't listed. All I want to know is whether there is a UK equivalent (I'm looking at an avertisement in 'Woodworkers Journal' where Zinsser describe a 'French Polish revolution'). Thanks for the other websites. No urgency.
Fred.
 
Hi

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the Zinsser product so I'm not sure what would be considered a UK alternative.
There have in the past been several 'french polishing kits' which have been an easy to apply version of french polish, some involving a two product process, but these were discontinued several years ago, due, I suspect, to poor sales.

If you're able to provide some more information (I haven't seen the advertisement either) I'll have another go at this one!

Cheers
 
Terry, This site gives you the data regarding Bulls Eye polish:
http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductID=87
At first I thought Chestnut Friction Polish would be the same but I'm not so sure now.
Yes, I am reminded of Furniglas Home Kit in two parts. I still have a pair of the the ancient bottles this product came in. Perhaps it was health & safety that put paid to it - bottle no. 2 as I remember was fairly acidic.
Fred.
Kington Herefordshire.
 
Hi Fred

Thanks for searching that out for me.

I'd agree that the closest we've got to this is the Friction Polish, although I wouldn't like to say that it was 'easy' to apply; it can be wiped on and will give a very bright finish, but it does require an amount of elbow grease.

A 'wipe-on' polish would suggest to me that all that was needed would be a couple of gentle passes with a cloth; I've used Friction Polish on smallish areas and been very pleased with the results and the amount of work involved wasn't too severe, but I still wouldn't use the word easy - but I wouldn't say it was difficult either.


Friction Polish is shellac based making it, to a large extent, a modified french polish (probably closer to a white french polish).

I'd guess that most other friction polishes would do pretty much the same thing too if anyone wants to have a go...
 
Most well known of the Zinnser finishing products are their range of shellac based products. Having lived in the US for a few years I am familiar with their products and I've used several.

Their shellac based finishes range from what we know as knotting-- their sealers, through brown polish to something they call SealCoat. Their range of polishes are formulations of the regular shellac products we are familiar with but with some slightly different names.

Most of their ready to use shellacs have preservatives in them to keep them workable over extended periods, say a year or more. If we mix shellac flakes with one of the forms of alcohol that dissolve the stuff we usually need to use the polish created within a month or so otherwise it won't cure properly. Old mixed/dissolved shellac can be tested by placing a blob on a bit of glass. If it goes hard quickly, it's fine. If it stays soft and rubbery, it's bad.

The Americans use a system of 'cuts' for denoting the strength of shellac polishes. A 2 lb cut denotes proportions of 2 lbs. of shellac flakes per gallon of alcohol. It has to be remembered that the US gallon of water is usually reckoned to weigh eight pounds. If you are aiming for a 2 lb cut in smaller volumes then there are 16 liquid ounces in a US pint, so you add 4 ounces of flakes to one pint of alcohol.

As to your original question regarding a 'wiping' shellac based polish, pretty much all shellacs can be applied with a rag, a brush, sprayed, or built up by french polishing with a rubber. My usual preferred method for large jobs is to get the stuff on fast with a spray gun. It's just a question of scale and time which settles me on a choice of application, although I mostly leave french polishing out of the equation. Slainte.
 

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