Problems with French Polish
I bought a bottle of pre-mixed Feast & Watson French Polish from the local hardware. For all I know, Feast & Watson are the Ryobi of the finishing world but it's supposedly just Shellac mixed with metho. I wanted to finish some cedar frames.
It was pretty much drying on the brush as I used it so I thought I would thin it a bit using metho. After it dried, it went a bit patchy, with some sections taking on a creamy off-white colour. I rubbed back with steel wool and put on another coat, to much the same affect.
As it turns out, the missus likes the affect, which is all that really matters. It looks to me like an old bit of window moulding where someone's had a go at stripping all the paint off and gave up halfway. Sort of weathered, antique look. Doesn't look too bad polished up.
But just in case I ever want to get a proper finish out of the stuff, can anyone point out what might have caused it? My first thought was the metho but I tried a bit straight from the bottle and got the same result. I've used the same stuff on some hardwood where I applied it with a cloth while the piece was spinning on the lathe and it came up fine.
No, I don't have the Polisher's Handbook. When the credit card has recovered from the Christmas shopping, I'll be putting in my order.