Oil finish is ideal because it fills the pores with oil; therefore it is not necessary to resort to a paste filler (thinned with boiled oil and turpentine). After the last coat has dried for 24 hours or more a final coat consisting of equal parts of boiled linseed oil and drier is applied. When it has become quite tacky, it is towedoff with burlap across the grain and allowed to dry for another 24 hours. The rubbing is accomplished with rottenstone and a buffing block for the flat surfaces, or a buffing stick for rounded surfaces such as legs, spindles or spreaders. Buffing blocks can be suitably shaped from wood and faced with saddler's leather. The leather surface is charged by rubbing the rottenstone over it several times; then the work is rubbed with light strokes at an angle to the grain. The leather rubbing surface should be recharged frequently and when it becomes slick with oil, should be scraped off with a case knife. The more rubbing administered to an oil finish the more the beauty of the grain will be developed. A few drops of the syrupy linseed oil rubbed in with the bare hand over one or more of the surfaces once a month will add to the luster. A simple polish that can be applied to an oil or varnished surface can be made by dissolving 1 oz. of carnauba wax in 2 oz. of turpentine heated in a water bath or double boiler. When thoroughly melted, 1 pt. of heavy boiled linseed oil and 1 J2 oz. of japan drier are added and allowed to simmer for about 10 minutes. The mixture should then be stirred until cool and stored in a Mason jar. French Polishing. Prior to the period of Georgian cabinetmakers the wax finish was used for oak, walnut, and mahogany. With a freer emplovment of FURNITURE FINISHING 327 inlay and veneer between 1750 and 1800, the thin, lustrous transparent coating known as French polish became popularized. Still a favorite of conoisseurs of fine furniture finishes, French polish brings out the fine beauty of a wood at the expense of considerable labor and skill. In essence a series of painstakingly rubbedin coatings of thin shellac, like the oil finish, its success is dependent upon the number of coats that are manually applied. After a wash coat of shellac, succeeding thin coats of polish are applied with a pearshaped pad of cotton wrapped in lintless cloth, such as an old linen handkerchief, (Figure 5.8). The pad is dipped into a saucer of fullstrength refined Fig. 5.8. French polishing pad. r shellac (white or orange), covered by its wrapping, and pressed down with a circular rubbing motion with sufficient force to squeeze the shellac out in an even distribution over the lintless wrapper. To avoid excess tackiness the pad is lightly touched to the surface of a saucer of raw linseed oil, from time to time. This should be used sparingly, however, because all the oil must be rubbed out again. As with the oil finish previously described, the circular rubbing action should extend from a small area across the whole surface.