• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
For head office enquiries call 0800 021 3071. Socialise with us
Furniture Medic
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Furniture Medic
    • Commercial Services
      • Commercial Services
      • Hotel & Leisure
      • Retail
      • Restaurant
      • Office
      • Insurance
      • Fire or Water Damage
      • National Accounts
      • Commercial FAQs
      • Before and After Gallery
    • Domestic Services
      • Domestic Services
      • Upholstery Repair and Restoration
        • Caring for Upholstery
      • Leather Repair and Restoration
        • Types of Leather
        • Caring for Leather
      • Furniture Frame Repairs
      • Antique Furniture Repair and Restoration
        • French Polishing
      • Colour Restoration
      • Fire or Water Damage
      • Life Events
        • Moving In or Out
        • Owning a Pet
      • Hints & Tips
      • Domestic FAQs
      • Before and After Gallery
    • working safely during covid-19
    • Contact Furniture Medic
      • Customer Services
      • Terms, Conditions, Privacy
  • Franchise Opportunities
  • News
  • Find Your Nearest
  • Menu Menu

French Polishing by Furniture Medic

A quick guide to French polishing

FIND YOUR NEAREST
We bring our domestic expertise to you.

French polishing is the name given to the technique used to apply Shellac. This traditional technique was invented by the Martin Brothers in France C1835. It was brought over to Britain for The Great Exhibition in 1850-53. After the exhibition many Victorians loved the new glossy look and so chose to have their furniture refinished using this technique.

Most furniture from then on up until the 1920/30’s was French polished, oiled or waxed. After this period Nitro Cellulose was introduced, thus leading to the modern day lacquer finishes.

Things you need to know about your newly French polished furniture

  • Avoid placing the item in direct sunlight. Shellac is a thermoplastic material which means it can soften by application of heat; excessive heat can cause the polish to blister OR create imprints from items left on it
  • Avoid placing plastic or polyurethane backed items on the surface as acids can be released and etch into the surface creating an imprint.

Please don’t be afraid by the information above – many Antiques still have their original finish.

How To Care For Your Newly French Polished Furniture

  • Always use coasters or place mats to protect the surface
  • To maintain the condition of the piece, dust regular with a dry duster
  • If the surface gets something spilled on it then mop it up quickly. If necessary you can clean it by wiping it down with a solution of 5% white wine vinegar in cold water. A damp leather shammi is best, buff back up using a Dry Microtex cloth

PLEASE NOTE
Waxing highly polished furniture can cause it to look streaky! (It is a myth that waxing puts nourishment back into timber, this is only true if the piece has been an oiled or waxed finished).

  • working safely during covid-19
  • Domestic Services
    • Upholstery Repair and Restoration
      • Caring for Upholstery
    • Leather Repair and Restoration
      • Types of Leather
      • Caring for Leather
    • Furniture Frame Repairs
    • Antique Furniture Repair and Restoration
      • French Polishing
    • Colour Restoration
    • Fire or Water Damage
    • Life Events
      • Moving In or Out
      • Owning a Pet
    • Hints & Tips
    • Domestic FAQs
    • Domestic Before and After Gallery
  • Commercial Services
    • Hotel & Leisure
    • Retail
    • Restaurant
    • Office
    • Insurance
    • Fire or Water Damage
    • National Accounts
    • Commercial FAQs
    • Commercial Before and After Gallery

OUR FAMILY OF BRANDS

ServiceMaster Clean
ServiceMaster Restore
TruGreen
Merry Maids
Furniture Medic
Rosemary Bookkeeping

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

ServiceMaster Clean
TruGreen
Merry Maids
Furniture Medic

servicemaster_brand_corporate_logo

SITEMAP

Home
About Furniture Medic
Commercial Services
Domestic Services
Find Your Nearest
Franchise Opportunities
Contact Us

POLICIES

Terms & Conditions of Sale
Privacy Policy
Cookies Policy
CSR Policy

GETTING IN TOUCH

ServiceMaster Limited
ServiceMaster House
Tigers Road
Wigston
Leicester LE18 4WS

For further enquiries:
0800 021 3071

CUSTOMER SERVICES

Click here to contact Customer Services.

FOLLOW US

Tweets by @Furniture_Medic
Copyright - ServiceMaster - Another site by Jeff Perrin Design
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

ACCEPT ALLLEARN MORE

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only