Thread: French polished dashboard

As far as I am aware once the shellac has crazed you need to strip back and refinish, if you need to refinish use a modern alternative that is more suited to the application

Hi Barnfind,
I am a furniture restorer specialising in antiques and French Polished surfaces. You mentioned the car's age so perhaps you are restoring it like for like?
if this is the case it is best to use the material that was originally applied to the dash and timber fittings. You can amalgamate the old crazed finish with a fresh recoating of shellac (if that is what is on there) to restore the surface.
To work out if it is shellac use a small cotton bud with pure alcohol (ADA - Absolute Denatured Alcohol), or metho just to start, in an inconspicuous corner to create a 5c piece sized wet area. It should start to become tacky if it is shellac.
If it is shellac you can partially melt (soften up) the crazed surface with the alcohol and 0000 wire wool.
Look up how how to revive mahogony surfaces through antique finishing techniques to then learn how to reapply the shellac.
It is a delicate process with a lot of 'feel' necessary but rewarding.
Having said that - give it a go and if it all goes pear shaped be comforted with the knowledge you can do what you were going to originally and just strip it back and reapply the shellac, or a modern finish that will last longer but is harder to restore in the future.
Good luck.
Jeremy

Cheers, thanks Jeremy, i will try that experiment and report back.
Peter

Hi all,

Whilst i am aware that this is an old post, might i also suggest 'The English Polisher' on YouTube. Just go the YouTube and enter his name to bring up a wealth of polishing and restoring info. Very knowledgeable.