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The basics of staining are easy – it's when things don't go as planned that staining becomes a difficult, frustrating task. Here are ten of the most common staining problems and how you can avoid [...]

Efficient, cheap and simple to make. This magazine puts a lot of emphasis on hand tools – that is, tools without motors. Common subjects include handplanes, chisels, scrapers etc. But when it [...]

There are only four categories, so it’s easy. There are probably more myths surrounding furniture polishes than any other single aspect of wood finishing. What makes this topic confusing are the [...]

To master finishing, you need to understand the basic terminology. All technical fields have their own vocabulary. You’ll have difficulty mastering any technical field without understanding its [...]

Understand and avoid this common spraying flaw. Orange peel is the most universal defect in a sprayed finish. It is a bumpiness on the surface that resembles the skin of an orange – hence the [...]

Learn why certain oils cure better and what makes an oil suitable for finish. Oil is one of the most important ingredients used in finishing products. Besides being a finish all by itself, oil is [...]

Gain more control over your staining with these techniques. The most popular types of stains are oil stains, also called wiping stains (though most stains are wiped after application). Oil stains [...]

A combination of knowledge and experience. All sorts of damage can occur to a finish. I’ve written about the most common problems and how to fix them many times. Four of the articles I wrote for [...]

No wood finish illustrates better than “teak oil” why finishing is so confusing. Brands vary from mineral oil, to linseed oil, to tung oil, to oil/varnish blend, to wiping varnish, to simply wax [...]

While this natural Danish finish looks beautiful, it’s high-maintenance. You may be surprised to learn that a quite popular finish for furniture and floors in Denmark, and other northern European [...]

Cracking, crazing and physical wear have specific causes and remedies. Everyone who buys, sells, works on or collects old furniture, or who has some in their house, has to be concerned with [...]

One of the most challenging tasks in wood finishing is matching the color of an existing object, color swatch or photo in a magazine. Most people try to accomplish this with just a stain, but it [...]