A Simple Wood Finish…Takes Time

Polished Work. - Joinery with its surface polished, by rubbing on shell-lac dissolved in spirit.

George Ellis, Modern Practical Joinery, 1902 

Yesterday afternoon, while I was level sanding the pore filler on the back and sides of my latest classical guitar, I had lots of time to think on the simple wood finishes that are being touted these days for those amateurs making stick chairs, staked stools and tables and any other form of home/workshop furniture that might be found in the old Foxfire books or a folk museum. You know what I am talking about: rub pure soap into that freshly adzed and scraped chair seat; buy some real linseed oil paint or milk paint; get real unadulterated linseed and use the heel of your hand to rub into the surface (I remember doing that on some very early wood working projects); and I am sure I have forgotten many more folksy, vernacular style finishes. These finishes are touted as being easy to apply, easy to repair and “good enough”, I admit that if the person is making their very first Appalachian style ladder chair they should stick with a simple finish. Yet, these simple finishes are just that, and if you want to create a great looking wood finish on your project you need to be willing to spend some quality creating that finish. 

I spend a lot of time creating a great French polish finish, probably too much time given the monetary return. So many guitarists today, young and old, are use to seeing shiny factory finishes on factory guitars (yes, I know that quite a few factory guitars today have a satin finish) and because of those shiny guitars, many guitarists believe their custom made guitar should have a similar finish.

I spend a lot of time creating a great French polish finish, probably too much time given the monetary return. So many guitarists today, young and old, are use to seeing shiny factory finishes on factory guitars (yes, I know that quite a few factory guitars today have a satin finish) and because of those shiny guitars, many guitarists believe their custom made guitar should have a similar finish.

Sigh.

That shiny finish takes time. At the moment, I am pore filling the wood on this guitar and last week I purchased a pore filler that according to the maker’s instructions the filler will not pull out of the pore and one application will fill all pores. The packaging also said that the filler won’t muddy the grain of the wood. I applied the filler, let it dry for three days and found out it doesn’t work as claimed. I ended up going back to the old tried and true method of pore filling with some alcohol, shellac, 2F pumice and a pad of cotton waste wrapped with Irish handkerchief linen. Now that I have level sanded using with 600 grit sand paper, there are very few open pores which can be remedied with several sessions of French polish, with a pinch of pumice, and some light level sanding. 

Then I will spend some quality time on the guitar, at least ten sessions of French polishing, that is a session every other day, or every two days, so the shellac can dry and harden, I will do that until I am happy with the looks of the finish. It takes time to make a world class finish.