Finishing

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 blacksmith [...]

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 [...]

Tool: Tiger Flakes Manufacturer: Brooklyn Tool & Craft MSRP: $28+ Because shellac is my favorite finish, I have tried nearly every brand of flakes on the market. By far, my favorite brand is [...]

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 [...]

This solvent’s versatility makes it ideal in many situations If you’ve been shopping at paint stores or in the paint department of home centers for the last decade or so, you may have noticed the [...]

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 [...]

Discover how (and when) to give old, deteriorated finishes new life. As finishes age, they deteriorate. First they dull, then they begin showing small cracks (called “crazing”). The culprit of [...]

Using factory-made prefinished plywood makes cabinet building quicker, easier and cleaner, so it’s unfortunate that most home centers and lumberyards don’t stock it. Luckily, [...]

Discovering ugly blotching after applying stain is one of the worst finishing problems a woodworker can encounter—especially because the unsightly patches of dark, deeply absorbed color seem to [...]