Wood Finishing

Water Based Wood Stains

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Water based stains have been around for a while and seem to get mixed reviews. For a number of reasons, I think these are excellent products. First of all they dry very quickly, which means you can often finish a project in a day. This in it'self is not an achievement, but what I like about this is that finishing a project quickly means that there is less time for dust and dirt to land on your still-drying-project.

Applying the finishes is usually done indoors (also to avoid dust and particles) which means somewhat of an enclosed area. Most water based stains have little (if any) odour which makes them more pleasant to use in confined areas. And finally ... clean up. I hate clean up at the best of times and any time I can save the environment and use something as simple as old fashioned soap and water to clean my brushes with ... is my kind of product.

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Ebonizing Wood

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ebony Anyone who has purchased any Ebony wood in the last few years will realize why anyone would even bother to try duplicated this fine exotic wood. The reason is simple, costs. Ebony is somewhat difficult to obtain and is therefore VERY expensive to buy, even in small quantities as a highlighter to a project.

In order to "ebonize" or make your own ebony wood, the first thing to do is to choose the wood. Obviously darker woods will be easier to make darker that light colored woods. If you have ever examined ebony closely, you will see it is a very fine wood with almost no grain visible. Almost like black plastic. If you use a gainy wood like oak, the grain will easily show through the dye, so for close-in work I would suggest using a finer grain wood, even if it means more work because it is a lighter colored wood.

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Jesse's Secret 3 Part Oil Finish

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" Finishing woodwork projects can be one of the most frustrating things for most woodworkers. In and effort to find something that is easy to apply and is little affected by the dust in your workshop ... we present Jesse's formula, which by the way isn't really a secret, but once you have tried this technique, consider yourself a member of the Pro Finishers!! Its easy to apply and looks fabulous, we think even you will be amazed.

Editors note: I have had the pleasure of knowing this woodworker for a some years, he's talented, knowledgeable a willing to try new techinques ... we think you will be very happy with the results if you follow his technique.

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Milk Paint - Make Your Projects Look Authentically Antique

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Before there were paint stores, the coating most often used to paint pictures on cave walls, brighten log cabin walls, and furniture, was Milk Paint. It can be traced back as far as 20,000 years but for our purposes the 1700s, 1800s and 1900s are what we are most concerned about. If you are making reproduction furniture and want to replicate a painted finish that is 100 - 200 years old there is nothing better than a milk paint. Sure you can go out and purchase one of the new latex paints, and they are good, but nothing beats the original milk paint it just has something that is difficult if not impossible to mimic in latex or oil paints. If you are making reproduction furniture, milk paint will give your pieces the most authentic look, OR ... if all you want is a safe paint to use, milk paint is your answer. If you want to make your own milk paint, click below to read how you can make authentic looking "antique" furniture.

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