French Polishing

Ben Wimpenny · Post by **Ben Wimpenny** » 17 Mar 2005, 18:12

I intend in the medium term to french polish my upright piano and have bought various literature on how to french polish. Don't worry, I don't
intend to start off on the piano but to practice on separate pieces of wood as all literature warns beginners against working on their
pianos until they have mastered the process - and I believe this may take a while!

What, however, the books I have read are not so clear on is how you treat the existing piano finish before you start the french
polishing process. I have a rosewood veneered Grotrian Steinweg piano (1897) which has a varnish type finish but being an amateur
I have no idea exactly what this finish is - although I am pretty sure it is not french polish as it is quite a robust finish.

Could anyone out there possibly advise whether I need to strip this finish before I commence the french polishing process and if so, what
product should I use to strip the existing lacquer/varnish?

Many Thanks

classic-keyboard · Post by **classic-keyboard** » 17 Mar 2005, 19:24

I've never french polished a piano but I've french-polished Leslies (organ speaker cabinets) and you have to remove all of the previous finish, then do a lot of cleaning and sanding and ideally grain filling. I use Nitro-Mors (paint stripper) and it works fine. At first I was afaid it might do something terrible to the veneers but it never has. However, the veneer on your piano might be thinner or in some way more fragile so you'd want to test a bit first. I follow the instructions on the tin (one coat, leave it five minutes or so, another coat, leave it 10 more minutes or so) and then gently scrape the resulting gloop off with a brand new wallpaper scraper.

By the way, from my experience with french polishing I'd view doing a whole piano with some trepidation. But then I haven't got the patience of a house-fly.

A440 · Post by **A440** » 04 Jul 2005, 01:46

Yes, it's a very long job. It's a bit like deciding to plaster your ceiling in the living room (only harder).
It's all down to experience. If you really want to do it have fun practicing on small furniture for a year or so then have a go, it's a big project and they are large surfaces (which is very tricky and even for an expert Very time-consuming).

Yes, remove all traces of finish (varnish! I hope not). And, like decorating prepare very,very well (down to 1200 grit). I learnt it as the rule of 6 Ps....
Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Polishing!