French Polishing, the name given to the usual method of polishing furniture. Simple varnishing with copal or mastic varnish, put on with a brush, produces a comparatively uneven surface, which soon wears off with friction. A French-polished surface, on the other hand, is beautifully smooth, glossy, and very durable if occasionally rubbed over with ordinary furniture paste. The process consists in rubbing the 'polish,' which chiefly consists of shell-lac dissolved in alcohol (methylated spirit), well into the pores of the wood. After it has been left for a night to harden, the surface is next rubbed over with sand-paper. These operations are repeated several times, but the wood finally receives two rubbings with the polish only. The pads or rubbers used are either of flannel or cotton-wool, covered with thin calico dipped in linseed-oil. An 'egg shell' finish is given to the surface either by rubbing over the ordinary French-polished surface with pumice and linseed-oil, or by applying the polishing solution in a thin state. Ebony, satinwood, and Spanish mahogany are more easily polished than oak, American walnut, or rosewood. Neither vessels containing hot water nor bottles of perfumes made up with alcohol should be placed on polished wood.
The composition of French polish, sometimes called cabinetmakers' polish, varies very much. A good receipt is lb. shell-lac, 1 oz. mastic, 2 oz. gum benzoin, 1 gallon methylated spirit. Another is 10 parts shell-lac, 40 parts methylated spirit. For light-coloured woods the polish should be made of white shell-lac. See Brann's trans. of Andres on Varnishes (1882), Church's Chemistry of Paints (1890), and the articles JAPANNING, VARNISH.