As usual, I’m a bit late to the bar or dinner table on almost any discussion of
interest these days.

As I skim through the contributions, I think I can clarify a few things about
using polisseurs that may or may not help.

1)  The most recent work in the “western world’ about making and using
polisseurs was done by Don Williams, as part of a three person effort to
translate the archaic French that was used by Roubo to describe how French
woodworking was tackled as of the mid-1700's.  The sitting king of France at the
time had ordered that every industry in France be documented in regards of what
they did, where there did it, what they did it for, etc., and IIRC (no
commitment to accuracy here) the resulting published work was massive.  The part
written and illustrated by Roubo became four volumes on joinery and woodworking
for everything from furniture to garden trellises, , without providing much
detail.  Don very clearly advises the reader of the resulting books that Roubo
presumed that the reader knew the basics of the trade, and the intent was to
preserve the advanced knowledge of French industry. A full set of the resulting
efforts producing something on the order of hundreds of volumes.  Perhaps the
king lacked reading material to put him to sleep or they had libraries with
empty shelves.

The Roubo contribution was titled "The Art of Joinery".  Four volumes were
published in 1771, 1772, 1774, & 1775 on various special types of joinery, and a
fifth on how to build theaters & 'theater machinery’ was partially published in
1782.  These would have been fairly large books, as was the practice in 18th
century printing & binding.  Seems fair to say at that time the entire set was
not a best-seller.

2)  The archaic French didn’t help, but Don had two friends who were interested
in spending a full year of long hours and few vacation plans to tackle the
project.  I gathered that his assistants were also employed at times by the
Smithsonian, as was Don until he retired and launch this project.  One of the
assistants was a close female friend of Don's who happened to have Doctorate in
Archaic French but no furniture or woodworking expertise (and as Don was
married, let’s not assume the relationship was totally aboveboard.  The third
person involved was another male who worked with Don at times on furniture, and
happened to be able to read and speak modern French.  From what Don had said,
the three of them found the project challenging and educational, as translation
of archaic French focused on a specific kind of trade work did not translate
easily.

3)  The resulting published work written and illustrated by Roubo was requested
of all industries in France in the 1700’s became four volumes on joinery and
woodworking for everything from furniture to garden trellises, , without
providing much detail.  Don very clearly advises the reader of the resulting
books that Roubo presumed that the reader knew the basics of the trade, and this
was aimed at conveying the advanced knowledge.  If you want to try and figure
out what insight Roubo recorded and the team translated, you want to talk with
Lost Art Press to see if they have any more copies of the second volume:  Roubo
on Furniture (sea green binding), published in 2017.


Don gave a very captivating presentation to a Society of American Period
Furniture Makers on using polisseurs shortly before the book went on sale.  Don
prefaced his demonstration by cautioning us that finding someone to make or sell
polisseurs was very difficult.  He had a guy who was helping figure out just how
tight they have to be, and what grade of materials worked best in making them.
Since Don & I spent some time on the issue of where to get these tools, and Don
was trying to get a steady supply, I took the initiative to see if I could find
a second person or persons who might be able to provide enough polisseurs to
keep all of us newly aware of polisseurs and their use in as many as we needed.

I found a small family business in Alabama who agreed to make some, and he
shipped me a dozen that used several thicknesses and length of broom (corn)
straw.  The first batch was not particularly successful.  Very fine straw, as
might be used in a whisk for cleaning dirt off a piece of clothing is not
suitable.  The finer the straw, the more quickly the tip (where the workpiece is
polished) disintegrates.  The next batch used several grades of thicker straws,
and we both shortened the exposed straw tips and tightened the cord wrapping at
nearly double the tension of what is commonly used for heavy duty brooms that
are constructed with sewn in high-tension cord.  I bought a couple more batches,
and had enough that I thought I would have enough for the remainder of my life
in the workshop.  During the early days of the Pandemic, I had a phone call from
the oldest brother, informing me that the father had quit that business and left
it to his sons over the past year, and this son (who I had been talking with
through the experiments) had bought his brothers out of the custom broom
business.  Less than a year later he called to say that he had already found a
buyer for the broom making equipment, and he was moving out of state to take a
steady job so that he could eat regularly.  I asked how many polishers he had
left, and he sold the inventory (less than a dozen) for double the price I had
been paying him (considering that he had been very cooperative, I was perfectly
happy to do so).

Use of Polisseurs

I made a variety of pieces of furniture for this home at the request of my late
wife, and used Don Williams’ advice with success.   The less than obvious aspect
is just how much downward pressure is needed to let the polisseur achieve the
polished surface.  Keep this in mind:  A Lot of Pressure.  Keep the polisher as
vertical as possible, and use your arms, shoulders, & back to keep the pressure
on while it moving forward and backward.  Do not go side to side, as you will
not be able to see the uneven streaks that will result until you change viewing
position.

The second aspect is to move the polisher inline with the grain as much as
possible.  Cross the grain at a 90 degree angle may damage the surface of the
wood.


Three example projects:

One piece was a six drawer Hepplewhite style sewing machine cabinet, built with
a 19” deep cabinet (front to back) x 40” wide top that flipped over on hinges to
support the material or item being sewn.  The  top surfaces were polished as Don
Williams had instructed us in the SAPFM presentation — grip the polishers
tightly and set the angle of the relative to the surface as close to vertical as
the roughness of the surface allows.  The idea here is that the tips of the
straw all need to be in contact with the surface being smoothed.=My polishers
are made of broom straw, which works very well on moderately hard hardwoods.
The mahogany I was using was a northern South American variety (yes, say that
quickly 3x), a bit darker than Honduran / Guatamalan mahogany (which is now
difficult to obtain because it and other subspecies are prohibited to be shipped
out of their native country).

Another mahogany piece, a lingerie chest, with five main drawers in the lower
portion of the cabinet; a 22” wide six-drawer jewelry case in the upper portion
of the cabinet, a digital jewelry safe above that, with raised panel doors
enclosing the upper portion; and a top that was built by hand with a large
carving tools and hinged from the back to reveal a secret compartment for
keepsakes.  The wood in this piece was Honduran / Guatemalan mahogany that was
lighter in color than that used in the sewing cabinet, and the wood was harder /
more resistent to scratching.  The large drawers, the entire exterior of the
carcase, the raised panel doors, the jewelry drawer fronts, and the top were all
tackled with several different polishers with the more stiff / thicker broom
straw tips.  This straw material responded better to polishing, and the
differeence before & after was noticeable and could be picked out with a camera
shot without flash; reflection of overhead lighting revealed which sections of
the material were and were not yet polished.  This chest measured 49=1/2” high
by 27” wide by 16” deep, and its style was intentionally built using typical
details used by eastern Connecticut cabinetmakers in the mid- to late-1700’s.
Finish was shellac & wax.

I’ve also used polishers to bring up the reflection of light on a rebuilt maple
dresser salvaged from a mid-20th century ‘colonial’ style bedroom set.  This
piece responded quite well with the polisher made with thicker straw to polish
the surface while simultaneously applying furniture wax, using the polisher to
both compress the surface of the maple and bring up the reflective surface of
wax.  Don Williams had advised his audience to saturate the polisher with wax by
heating the wax and setting the polisher in the liquid wax until it cools.  Once
cold, it is ready for use, and will slightly reduce the amount of vertical
needed to keep the polisher vertical and under control.

Where to Buy

If I wanted to obtain a new order of polishers, I would get in touch with Don
Williams.  He has been the only other person who was having these made for sale.
The donsbarn website is his.

Charlie Driggs