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Here’s a situation you may have experienced if you do much French polishing. A woodworker friend emailed me with this problem. He had been French polishing a tabletop, and no matter what he did, [...]

A woodworker friend emailed me with a problem. He had turned a face-grained bowl from what he described as “grainy” walnut. To finish it he was using Watco Danish Oil, and his problem was that [...]

You may have noticed that acetone is becoming more widely available. This is primarily because it’s the only commonly available solvent that is classified as an exempt VOC solvent. VOC is the [...]

Boiled linseed oil and 100% tung oil are the two widely available drying oils. Though called “drying oils” both dry adequately only when applied very thin. If the excess isn’t wiped off after [...]

When it comes to finishing products, what happens in California doesn’t stay in California. It usually spreads across the country. So when a California friend emailed to tell me that denatured [...]

I know that a lot of readers use shellac for finishing. Of all finishes, shellac is probably the easiest to use when it comes to cleaning and storing brushes because shellac dissolves easily in [...]

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law in Denmark got very severe burns on her lower legs from a gasoline explosion. Her friend had piled up a lot of brush and wanted to burn it. So he pored on some [...]

If you’ve done much woodworking, it’s very likely that you have experienced some dents and gouges. Both are flaws in the wood. But they are not the same thing, so they should be treated [...]

A woodworker friend called me with a problem. He had just built a bookcase and was trying to match the approximate sheen of a factory-finished piece of furniture he had and couldn’t find a [...]

A lot of woodworkers avoid staining whenever possible because of the problems that can occur. Instead of staining, they use a beautiful wood that gives the color they want to begin with. Most [...]

As I’ve said many times, one of the reasons finishing seems difficult to amateur woodworkers is that the manufacturers targeting these woodworkers provide bad directions that don’t produce good [...]

Distressing or aging wood can come in many forms, whether it's a color change or physical wear. Here some tips for achieving different effects.