# French polishing Meranti. Do I need to fill the grain?



## jimh (15 Mar 2011)

Hello all

New to woodworking - always like to throw myself in at the deep end so I'm trying out some French polishing!

I have a piece of Far Eastern Meranti which I've sanded down to 400 grit. It feels super smooth and silky.

I applied my spit coat of shellac/alcohol which seemed to slightly raise the grain when it dried. I sanded again with 400 grit and the silkiness returned and the base coat of shellac remains as the wood is still coloured and small patches of the sandpaper had shellac on which I assume is the small amount that was taken off.

I've just followed the procedure for grain filling using pumice and meths. The thing is it doesn't seem to have made any difference! It was super smooth and silky before and ... it's still super smooth and silky!

I can still _see_ the wood grain although I don't think I can _feel_ it - unless I'm just inexperienced and what I think is smooth somebody else would know isn't! Then again _smooth_ has a pretty universal meaning!

So what's going on?


It's not smooth, I'm a dumb ass

Trust it worked - it's just a bit of an _invisible_ process

Meranti sanded to 400 grit probably didn't need it in the first place

Or other!

Thanks for any help
Jim


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## MIGNAL (15 Mar 2011)

Grain filling isn't really meant to smooth the wood but to fill the open pores (pits) in certain types of wood. 
French Polishing is noted for it's highly reflective finish, so filling in the open pores helps to achieve an homogenous, highly reflective surface. 
I can't remember if Meranti is an open pored wood. You will know soon enough, as the French Polishing process starts you will see small 'flecks' on the wood surface that do not reflect light.


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## jimh (15 Mar 2011)

Thanks Mignal.

Hmm ... so I've finished my first "session" which was 3 coats and a "spiriting off" about an hour later. It went well, I got the "cloud" following my fad and all that business and it's lovely and shiny for sure already but if you look across the wood where an overhead light is shining on it you can see black lines cutting across the bright reflection. I guess these are unfilled pores/pits?

It's not a disaster though is it? I think I can just sand back the polish a little and add more pumice?

But ... I wonder why it didn't work in the first place. I did attempt to fill the grain with pumice powder. I did make the powder myself by grating (small side not cheese/veg side!) a pumice stone - couldn't find pumice powder anywhere.

It's amazing though - watching the shine appear from nowhere. Very beautiful/satisfying stuff.


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## jimh (15 Mar 2011)

Oh ... should I have been able to *see* the pumice fill the gaps? That's what I don't quite understand. I felt it's abrasiveness against the wood but it's not like I could see filled areas.


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## MIGNAL (15 Mar 2011)

That Pumice technique can be difficult. It's not the easiest to get to work and can take a lot of practice. There's no doubt in my mind that it is much harder than French polishing itself.
It requires a certain amount of Pumice coupled with the right pressure and technique.
You are unlikely to fill the grain in one go or session. Usually it takes it 3 or 4 with drying time in between. Over a period of a few days the filler material sinks into the pores, that requires fresh pumice to fill the pores again. 
I think you might be well advised to seek the powdered pumice. It is available on Ebay. The pumice abrades the wood and creates a very fine dust, whilst picking up some of the natural oils and dyes in the wood. The combination of this and Shellac is what fills the pores.
The easiest method to check on progress is to look at the piece of wood in good side light and use a magnifier. It's much easier to see the pores and how well filled they are.
These days I use an alternate method of filling pores. I'm no fan of paste fillers either. I use egg white. Sounds strange but egg white is an excellent binder. It's just a matter of applying egg white and using something like 320 Wet and dry, sanding in the direction of the grain. You are creating a mix of sanding dust and the egg white binds it into the pores. Again it may take a few sessions to completely fill the pores.


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## jimh (15 Mar 2011)

Hey Mignal

Egg whites?! Interesting. From happy chickens of course 

Yup I've just gone back to my piece (fortunately it's just a test piece and only about the size of a paperback!) and gone at the pumicing much more aggressively and now realise I didn't do it anything like enough before - of course I've probably done too much now! You can indeed see the pumice fill the pores.

Thanks for your help!
Jim


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