How to Restore French-Polished Mahogany

Clean the wood surface if it is dirty. Wipe the mahogany wood lightly using a clean cloth and naptha, if necessary.

Wet sand lightly any areas that have been damaged by heat, scratches or liquid spills using wet/dry sandpaper and mineral spirits.

Fill any scratches with multiple applications of two-pound cut shellac using an artist's brush. Lightly wet sand the area between applications, repeating the filling and sanding process until scratches disappear.

Make an egg-sized wad or pad of clean cotton cloth.

Saturate the wad of cloth with the shellac mixture. Squeeze out excess shellac so that the cloth is damp but not wet.

Wrap a second clean cotton cloth around the shellac-saturated cloth. Make sure that the outer cloth is free from wrinkles on the surface that will come into contact with the wood so that it will not leave streaks.

Sprinkle a few drops of mineral or linseed oil on the mahogany surface if you are using a traditional shellac and alcohol mixture. This step is not necessary if you are using a commercial, premixed finish.

Apply the cotton pad to the wood surface and gradually cover the entire surface using circular, slightly overlapping strokes. Repeat this application method until the desired finish thickness of shellac is reached.

Finish, once the desired thickness is reached, with a series of overlapping straight strokes that run with the grain of the mahogany.

Wipe the entire finished surface with a new clean cloth pad that has been slightly dampened with alcohol. This is only necessary if the shellac-alcohol mixture was used and serves to remove any remaining oil and leave a smooth, glossy sheen.