<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=376816859356052&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">

Comparing Linseed Oil & Tung Oil

The two commonly available pure oil finishes that can be used on furniture and woodwork with decent results because they cure – that is, turn from a liquid to a soft solid – are linseed oil and [...]

Getting The Most From Your Spray Gun

The critical parts are the fluid nozzle and air cap. As I have said many times, spray guns are pretty simple tools. By comparison, they aren’t any more difficult to use than a router. Still, [...]

Spray Gun Basics

How to choose a spray gun. A spray gun is a tool that turns a stain, paint, finish or other liquid material into a fine mist—a process called “atomization.” It then propels the liquid onto a work [...]

Wood Finishing Basics

Understand the fundamentals. A wood finish is a clear, transparent coating applied to wood to protect it from moisture and to make it look richer and deeper. This differs from paint, which is a [...]

10 Finishing Tips & Tricks

Solutions for common situations, from softening edges to stripping. Here are 10 tips and tricks you might use to both speed your finishing and get better results. I’ve arranged them in the rough [...]

Can You Stain Cherry Without Blotching?

Some straight talk about cherry and blotching. When I opened my furniture-making and restoration shop in 1976, the woods considered best for high-end furniture were walnut and mahogany. Of [...]

Explaining Polymerized Oil

Simple in theory, not in the real world. A reader of my blog  asked me to explain what polymerized oil is. So here goes. On one level the explanation is incredibly simple and on another it’s [...]

Cabinet-grade Finishing

Not everything has to have a furniture-grade finish. If you read the woodworking magazines or look online, you often come across instructions for filling pores, glazing, toning, rubbing out, and [...]

Slow Drying Finish Solutions

Why stains and finishes sometimes dry slowly. A friend called with a problem. He had applied an ebony oil stain to oak and after the stain had dried for two days, the polyurethane he then brushed [...]

Fish Eye & Silicone

The truth behind craters and ridges. If your finishing career has been limited to finishing projects you have made, you may never have experienced fish eye. But if you have done much refinishing, [...]

Colonial Apprenticeship

A brief history of a not-so-romantic woodworking education system. Ever since the renewal of interest in woodworking in the 1970s, especially among amateurs and small-shop professionals, there [...]

Start typing and press Enter to search