French Polishing

Radio,s, cabinets and of course record players over time loose there warm glow, or even colour if exposed to bright sunlight over extended periods of time. The cabinets if early models in particular may well have been glued with animal glues and if exposed to damp conditions will seperate, creating additional problems. But that said timber based products are repairable in most cases. Veneers can be re-fitted and matched and the finish can be greatly improved. These days there are a number of modern finishes which work rather well, Clear Gloss finish Polyurethane is very good for every day use, resilient to alcohol and does not scratch easy. Or I can French Polish, it is all done by hand, and can be finished to either a low luster or up to what is termed in piano restoration as a mirror finish.(Highly polished).

I had a 1964 pye record player that required at first repair and the client requested if i could re-polish the mahogony veneers, this was untertaken to create a period finish reflecting the age rather than a brand new in your face look, the photo's will identify the process.

The first photo is where the colour has been totaly bleached out.


Radio,s, cabinets and of course record players over time loose there warm glow, or even colour if exposed to bright sunlight over extended periods of time. The cabinets if early models in particular may well have been glued with animal glues and if exposed to damp conditions will seperate, creating additional problems. But that said timber based products are repairable in most cases. Veneers can be re-fitted and matched and the finish can be greatly improved. These days there are a number of modern finishes which work rather well, Clear Gloss finish Polyurethane is very good for every day use, resilient to alcohol and does not scratch easy. Or I can French Polish, it is all done by hand, and can be finished to either a low luster or up to what is termed in piano restoration as a mirror finish.(Highly polished).

I had a 1964 pye record player that required at first repair and the client requested if i could re-polish the mahogony veneers, this was untertaken to create a period finish reflecting the age rather than a brand new in your face look, the photo's will identify the process.

The first photo is where the colour has been totaly bleached out.

The colour in this case was reinstated using oil based. I can using water based colours match original hues as for example in walnut that has a green hue can be balanced and matched.

his is the finshed effect creating a warm colour glow to the final case.


With French Polish it can take a few weeks for the polish to harden and generally depending on how much body has been applied you will get some sinking, so this is something you need to take into account for the final finish.


Also when working the product, i use a long tube light rather than either daylight or standard bulb ?, why the answer is really  quite simple. THe strip light will show every defect in either the wood or the polish, it in effect amplifies the surface for you. So if you can get a good finish in that set up, the results in normal light and lighting will be perfect.


I can if required also work in black polish, this is much harder, and my experience was re-polishing concert grands, 10 foot in lenght to meet the needs for concert artists etc.

This Goblin Time Spot first brought into me , had a rather hard and unloved life as you can see

It was stripped and repaired, scratches removed, sometimes this can be acheived by applying water on the damaged area so raising the grain, rubbing back and hiding the defect. The cabinet was re-stained and french polished.

This was a 1940's Murphy that i was asked to restore, so please see attached photo's. The condition was terrible , more wood worm than wood, veneers lifting, case very weak, but it had great sentimental value and that means more than anything.

As you can see, restorations can be undertaken, in this case the first part was just to get the case secure and solid again before real work could commence. The old veneers were removed , just leaving the maple venneer to the lower front as i will try to leave as much as possible original, it's part of its history, though in this case due to 40 years plus of poor storage did not leave me to much. Then colour match this with the new and then French polished to a piano finish (high Gloss)

Radio,s, cabinets and of course record players over time loose there warm glow, or even colour if exposed to bright sunlight over extended periods of time. The cabinets if early models in particular may well have been glued with animal glues and if exposed to damp conditions will seperate, creating additional problems. But that said timber based products are repairable in most cases. Veneers can be re-fitted and matched and the finish can be greatly improved. These days there are a number of modern finishes which work rather well, Clear Gloss finish Polyurethane is very good for every day use, resilient to alcohol and does not scratch easy. Or I can French Polish, it is all done by hand, and can be finished to either a low luster or up to what is termed in piano restoration as a mirror finish.(Highly polished).


I had a 1964 pye record player that required at first repair and the client requested if i could re-polish the mahogony veneers, this was untertaken to create a period finish reflecting the age rather than a brand new in your face look, the photo's will identify the process.


The first photo is where the colour has been totaly bleached out.

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