Finishing

Adding finish to a project is one of the most rewarding parts of building something. As I’ve been finishing up the trim work in my kitchen remodel (lots of cherry),...

Achieve rich, warm color without blotching in 4 easy steps. If you’ve ever stained birch plywood a dark color, the results were probably so blotchy and difficult to reverse that...

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...

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...

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...

Apply layers of milk paint to add depth and contrast to your work. A visitor asked, “Paint over wood? Aren’t you obscuring wood’s natural beauty?” There are two assumptions behind...

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...

It’s fast, forgiving and affordable – and you don’t need a spray booth. The hardest part about learning to spray finishes is becoming convinced that you can learn to spray...

In the previous issue I wrote about teak oils and how none have anything to do with teak wood. Reading the article, you may have asked yourself why companies would...

Fire and wax together produce a rich black surface. Fire might not be the first finishing technique that most woodworkers gravitate toward; then again, I am not most woodworkers. As...

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...