Resistance of Dyes to Fading
All dyes fade much faster than pigment when exposed to bright light—sunlight and fluorescent light being the worst culprits. But some types of dyes fade faster than others. The worst for fading are the natural vegetable dyes, such as walnut husks and berries. These were sometimes used centuries ago, but they were replaced in the [...]

Polyurethane Won’t Dry
If you experience oil-based polyurethane not drying well, it’s not likely that it’s bad polyurethane. It’s more likely that the wood you’re finishing contains a natural oil or you have applied an oil to the wood and the oil hasn’t dried. In both cases we’re talking only about the first coat of polyurethane. After the [...]

Brushing Water-Based Finish Over Water Soluble Dye
If you are brushing a water-based finish over a water-soluble dye, you should be aware that the finish can dissolve the dye and the brush will pick it up and cause streaks. To keep this from happening, seal the wood first with another finish that doesn’t contain water—for example, shellac, varnish or lacquer. Another solution [...]

Thin All You Want
You often see cans of solvent finishes such as varnish, polyurethane and lacquer with instructions not to thin them. Manufacturers include these instructions in order to comply with VOC laws in some areas of the country. Adding thinner could take the finish out of compliance with the local or state laws, and manufacturers might be [...]

This is Not Rocket Science
Back in the 1970s and 80s, it was common to see explanations of the difference between Danish oil and wiping varnish described as that between oil and resin-fortified oil. I couldn’t make sense of this explanation because the term “resin” is so vague. It commonly refers to fossilized tree saps such as rosin, copal and [...]

How to Remove Latex Paint Spatter
If you’ve ever used a paint roller to apply latex paint to walls and not covered your furniture and other items well enough, you may have noticed that the roller shed tiny drops of paint that dried wherever they landed. Close inspection reveals tiny paint specks everywhere. In most cases, you can remove these specks [...]

Viscosity, Finish Thickness, and the Magic of the Wet Mil Gauge
Pro finishing shops maintain tight controls. Temperature, humidity, finish viscosity, air pressure, fluid volume, spray patterns – it’s a lot of factors that have to work together to produce the perfect finish, and measurement and control are the only ways to ensure a top quality result. We tend to be a little more loosey-goosey in [...]

Go for the Glaze – The Results Are Worth the Effort
I’m no different from most woodworkers. I don’t really enjoy finishing projects any more than the next guy. (For me, the fun is building the piece, especially as the project begins.) My early finishing involved oil-based stains that were slathered on, then adjusted to the final color by how much or how little you wiped [...]

Making Curly Maple Pop
To maximize the beauty of curly maple (also bird’s eye maple), you want the curls to “pop.” That is, be significantly darker than the rest of the wood. To do this you need to get more color into the curls. To some extent this happens naturally with any stain when you wipe off the excess. [...]

Wetting to Predict Blotching
You can usually get a pretty good idea whether or not the wood you are using will blotch when a stain or finish is applied by wetting the wood. You can use any liquid, but water will raise the grain causing you to have to sand more. Mineral spirits (paint thinner) works well except if [...]