My 50th piece with a French polish finish and what it taught me

I just finished my 50th piece using a French polish method, and the number really hit me. I started a log book after my first few tries went badly, and seeing that count made me look back. The first ten were on practice boards, full of streaks and rubber marks that showed I was pushing too hard. Around piece 30, I finally got the feel for that light, fast hand motion everyone talks about. The real change came after piece 40, when I stopped counting the individual sessions and started seeing the whole surface as one thing. My latest was a small walnut box, and the shine came up smooth in half the time it used to take. Has anyone else kept track of their repetitions on a specific skill and noticed a clear turning point?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_nina6d ago

Yeah, I kept a rough count on hand-cut dovetails... the first twenty or so were pretty rough. It finally clicked around number 35 when I stopped forcing the saw and just let the weight of it do the work. The muscle memory just sort of takes over after a while.

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danielgonzalez6d ago

Oh man, @the_nina, that's exactly it. I had the same thing happen with chisels. You just have to get out of your own head and let the tool do its job. After a certain point your hands just know what to do.