Finishing

If you want to spray finishes indoors, you need an exhaust system. This affordable homemade set-up makes it possible and affordable.

This morning I added a coat of pitch black milk paint to my sack-back chair. After you strain milk paint, it’s a lot more like adding a colored wash than it is like painting. (It’s [...]

Early chairs , especially American ones , look best when they are painted. Like any good woodworker who is in love with his or her raw material, I’ve tried to make stick chairs without [...]

        Fifty bucks and a few hours is all it takes to put together this finishing booth. It keeps overspray off my tools and dust off my projects. Since I use waterborne [...]

Tips & Techniques for Fantastic Oak Finishes By Dave Munkittrick Like a movie star, oak possesses natural good looks. Unlike a movie star, however, oak is easy to work with—even during [...]

        I buy varnish by the gallon because it’s more economical, but after a few uses, the rim fills with gunk and the finish begins to skin over inside the can. [...]

      I never thought about the risks of using finish from an old, previously opened can until I had to entirely strip a project because the ancient varnish I used didn’t dry [...]

Super-Smooth Poly Finish A defect-free finish, even with a brush By Eric Smith Polyurethane is a tough, high-quality finish, ideal for tabletops and other surfaces that take a lot of abuse. But [...]

12 Finishing Tips Good finishers have lots of tricks up their sleeves. Here’s a handful from Bob Flexner, one of the nation’s foremost experts. By Bob Flexner 1. Add depth by glazing [...]

Repairing Finishes Rescue battle-scarred finishes with ordinary materials. By Bob Flexner Revive a dull finish All finishes dull as they age, but you can usually bring back their shine. The [...]

Had an opportunity to work (very little), and watch (maximum attention) as kitchen cabinets were being finished using a high volume, low pressure (HVLP) spray system. Pretty cool. Read up online [...]

In my elementary school, the janitor was a shadowy character who mostly stayed in the basement, in his private area next to the boiler room. Yet he was powerful enough to make everyone (even [...]