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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 all by itself, oil is [...]

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 these [...]

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 stains [...]

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 finishes. Of all the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]