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A well-tuned spray gun doesn't guarantee a perfect finish. Here are five of the most common spraying problems and how to fix them.

Linen and more. Three times in recent memory, articles have appeared in major woodworking magazines instructing readers to use linen for the outer cloth in a French polishing pad. No explanation, [...]

Veneer is just thin wood – so don’t be afraid of it. I love repairing old furniture – the older the better. I find repairing more challenging and satisfying than making new because someone else, [...]

An explanation of this most confusing of finishing treatments. In the late 1980s, I hosted a local call-in radio show dealing with finishing and restoration. I remember one caller explaining that [...]

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 put out products that aren’t [...]

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 [...]

As I’ve explained many times in Popular Woodworking, you can achieve a near-perfect finish using a rag or brush: You can apply a wipe-on/wipe-off finish such as oil, wiping varnish or gel [...]

Two methods to create a mirror-flat surface. By Bob Flexner Page: 54 From the August 2010 issue #184

Years ago I remember teaching a class about finishing that included one student who said he had never used a stain or finish, and to make matters worse, he had never even painted anything. This [...]

When brushing a finish or paint onto large flat surfaces such as tabletops or cabinet doors, use an airplane-like landing motion with your brush when making contact with a surface near an edge. [...]

If you have ever sprayed the inside of a cabinet, or even a deep drawer, with a fast-drying finish such as lacquer or catalyzed lacquer, you have surely experienced dry spray settling on the [...]

A former student of mine from 10 years ago emailed me with a question about what he remembered was a formula I had come up with for a wipe-on finish. He had looked in his notes but couldn’t find [...]