Questions tagged [finishing]
Finishing a woodworking project refers to the final steps to beautify and protect it.
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Is the mineral oil sold for constipation the same type of mineral oil used for cutting boards?
I want to make my own mix of beeswax and mineral oil. The mineral oil sold at Home Depot costs over 6 times more than the stuff sold in Walmart for constipation.
Are they the same thing?
Clarification ...
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Finish on painted, custom bathroom vanity?
As part of a bathroom remodel, I've built a custom vanity. For the exterior (face frame, doors, drawer faces) I've painted it with a satin finish latex paint (4-5 coats). The interior is bare wood ...
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How to smooth wood that is splintering due to uneven hardness?
I would like to sand this surface to be safe and comfy to touch:
I am using a Delta sander with grits: 60, 120, 180, 240, 320 with various speeds and applying various amounts of pressure, but it seems ...
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Saving a sandbox - absolute beginner questions
In 2020 my father-in-law made a sandbox for our daughter. In 2021 he passed away, so this has become an important item to us to remember him by. However, he made some mistakes in building it. For one, ...
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How can I fix or avoid streaks with wipe-on polyurethane?
I have been working on a birch butcher block desk. I stained the desk then waited 24 hours before applying my first coat of brush-on satin polyurethane. I applied two coats of brush-on poly (24 hours ...
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Dealing with Pre-Stain and Wood Conditioner Residue
I'm currently working on staining a 10' walnut butcher block counter:
I have done a lot to get everything together:
Surface prep: sand at 320 grit using orbital, wipe using rubbing alcohol to remove ...
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How might I finish this hardwood board for use as a shelf?
For some background: I am a guitar player, and I know of a variety of different woods ("tone woods" as they're referred to in relation to guitar building), but I have absolutely no clue in ...
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Re-finish water-based polyurethane tabletop without having to sand again
Two years ago I sanded back my mid century table top and refinished with varathane water based polyurethane. I placed a 1 1/2 mm thick clear plastic protector over the top.
This has produced what I ...
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What are some good ways to finish smoothing a wood carving after you have the general form roughed out?
I am relatively new to wood carving and don't have anyone to mentor me or to ask advice from.
I am making a handle for a machete out of red oak. The bottom of the handle is hooked like a hanger and is ...
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Will poly crack if wood bends?
I have a 3/4” wide and 16’ long piece of raw pine that I’m finishing as a countertop for some storage cabinets in the living room. I plan to use water based stain and polycrylic. I’ve been working on ...
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Is there any reason why I should not finish before I build? [duplicate]
I want to finish some pine wood with Danish oil and then try and build a coffee table.
I was wondering if there is any reason to build before finishing. I realise that Im probably going to finish some ...
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Sanding woods of different hardnesses perfectly flat
I'm making a chess board from jatoba and maple. I made a mistake in my planning stage, and mis-interpretted the max width of my planer. As such, the board top is now just a bit to wide to go through,...
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Staining over epoxy [duplicate]
I am building a dining table out of of cracked reclaimed wood. I’ve mistakenly filled in the cracks with epoxy first and am now looking to stain the wood. Obviously, a normal stain won’t adhere to the ...
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Finishing jatoba and maple chess board
I'm building a chess board -- I decided to use jatoba and maple for the board itself, (and am using wenge and maple for the trim).
After milling the jatoba, the exposed surfaces of the jatoba are no ...
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Method to remove wood sticker stain / discolored area from pine?
I am using some old pine for flooring and want to keep the rustic saw mark appearance on the face. There are 1” wide horizontal stains across the boards left by wood stickers from drying or stacking ...
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How to remove the "yellow" look from pine?
I recently finished building my stairs with pine wood. I was expecting to stain them to give it a bit darker look, but I didn't like the end result.
I know I should have picked another wood to start ...
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Heat resistant finish for beech/oak trivets
I'm making some trivets (beech, oak) as christmass gifts and I'm not sure what finish to use - I'm not really too much concerned about trivet's finish damage - I'm more concerned about finish leaving ...
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Live wood coffee table [duplicate]
Going to use a prestain, then perhaps golden oak to even out the dark and light variations. Question what do I protect it with against red wine etc. I already have a red wine ring 😡. I have ...
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What order do I go in to fill defects in wood?
I’m new to live edge woodworking. I am finishing a walnut slab for a kitchen table that has some minor defects such as small cracks and knotty areas. I would like to fill those with epoxy. But unsure ...
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Is this a professional furniture refinishing job?
When I got married and bought a house, my parents gave me their old dining set— the one I grew up with. It’s seen a lot of abuse from my kids at my house and I decided to get it and the chairs ...
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What's the best process for sanding/finishing reactive stained oak floor with hardwax oil to leave the best surface?
I have raw oak floorboards which are being individually stained and finished before being laid. For context - this is my first time doing anything like this, so apologies for my lack of technical ...
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How to fill 2”x12” gap in hardwood floor with something that looks nice
I have a 1-2" gap in my hardwood floor after I needed to swap a larger register with a smaller one.
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I need to replace a 12" x 10" supply register grill with a 12" x 8" ...
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Can you apply polyurethane on top of wood that has been treated with a deck sealer?
Note, this is not for exterior use.
We bought an old Buffet and converted it into a vanity for our bathroom remodel. At the time we thought it was a good idea to seal it with a waterproof sealer and ...
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After using Minwax gel stain in Mahogany... which top coat ? Minwax Water Based Oil-Modified Polyurethane or Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane?
I applied 1 coat of Minwax gel stain in mahogany to a coffee table, waited 24 hours and then applied a 2nd coat of gel stain.
Waited 3 days for the gel stain to cure and I'm now ready for a topcoat. ...
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Is water-based polyurethane completely scratch resistant?
Just received a custom table finished with minwax water-based polyurethane. It's been about a week so I tested applying pressure with my fingernail, which did leave a small scratch if you look closely....
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Restoring old furniture finish
I have an old table that I'm working on. I initially was just taking off the wobbly feet and putting them back on more firmly. But I was wondering if there's a good way to fix up the scratches. There'...
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After two coats of Minwax low luster Antique Oil Finish stain color is still rubbing off
I applied the stain as per the directions, waited 5 minutes then rubbed it off. It dried overnight.
I applied the finish generously, waited 10 minutes, then rubbed it off, waited 24 hours then ...
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When to finish modular projects [closed]
I’m building a custom loft bed for my son in my garage. The final assembly is too large to make it up the stairs to his room so I’ll need to disassemble it to get it up there. I’m planning to stain ...
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How to obtain protective yet close to the wood satin finish on desktop?
I am finishing a piece of acacia glued up stave construction commonly called butcher block. It will be used as a desktop. I sanded it to 320 and put 3 coats of BLO/MS on it. It's mostly cured (I ...
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Proper way to re-oil a wood swim deck?
I’ve had the swim deck pictured below on my boat for a few summers now and the finish is getting pretty faded. I bought some teak oil to re-oil (right term?) it, but I’m unsure if I should just apply ...
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How to finish untreated European Oak wooden floors
I have bought a Oak Wooden floor planks unfinished. I have filled all the knots with clear resin and sanded it back for a lovely finish. I now need to protect the planks from drying out and cracking, ...
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Water based poly finish over oil based stain is tacky
In my first attempt on a woodworking project, I am trying to spruce up a dresser made of raw pine wood.
I stained it using Varathane oil stains. After it dried completely over a couple of days I ...
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Antique Danish Oil is still sticky months after application. How can I get it to cure?
I refinished a softwood tabletop using Minwax Red Oak 215 stain and Circa 1850 Antique Danish Oil. I've waited over 6 months and the oil is still sticky/tacky! We're talking post-it note levels. I ...
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Best clear finish for German beech to avoid blotching? [closed]
We have used beech in our bathroom and used WoodDoc Antique Wax to protect it. Unfortunately, although it looked beautiful, it did nothing to protect the surface from water splashes. We stripped the ...
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Retain smell of wood on a tool and also protect it?
I recently cut down a (dead) pinyon pine and I'm using part of it to make a handle for a hammer. While working with this wood the smell of it is out-of-this-world amazing.
Once the handle is finished ...
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okay to put one coat of linseed oil over one coat of tung oil?
I'm in a situation where I had to take a piece from one shop to another as I moved cross country.
Yesterday I applied one coat of tung oil per the container's instructions.
The shop I am in this ...
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Can a 23g nail gun satisfy all of my needs?
I'm looking into buying a nail gun to help when assembling my projects - holding them in place while glue dries or I have the chance to secure with screws; the only issue is that I have no experience ...
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How significant is the yellowing from aging polyurethane?
It seems that at least half of the questions we get about finishing are along the lines of "I don't want any yellowing from my finish", or "I don't want any yellowing because of aging ...
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Drying time on line tongue and groove boards
I have staying and sealed the tongue and groove boards with 2 coats of poly. I need to restack them until the contractor comes to install them. How long should they dry before I do this?
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Polyurethane over Boiled Linseed Oil Timing? -- Butcher Block Tabletop
Short version
If I'm using a few coats of boiled linseed oil (BLO) followed by a few coats of polyurethane, what should the timing schedule be? For my specific use case, this will be a large butcher ...
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What is the purpose of oil in French polishing?
I’m thinking of trying French polishing, but I want to understand the process more before I start.
I don’t understand the purpose of applying oil to the pad when French polishing. Some sources say to ...
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How to fill cracks and finish my bench (old found wood)?
For my first woodworking project, I am building bench with wood I found on the curb. Both my neighbor and a guy walking down the street said they thought the wood was at least 150-years-old. The ...
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Refurbishing Posts & Beams in a Modern 1954 House
I'm trying to refurbish the posts and beams in my house. They're quite beat up in some spots and have water damage streaks in the existing finish(es) in others, so I've decided to strip the existing ...
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Oil-based polyurethane became cloudy after sanding and wiping with moist cloth [duplicate]
I applied a thick coat of oil poly. Once dry, it looked clear in color. However, it was very rough and uneven, so I sanded heavily. After hours of sanding, I wiped the sawdust off with a moist cloth. ...
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What is the primary advantage of using sealer before applying grain filler?
I am trying to achieve a glossy finish on a piece of open grained wood, so I am looking at applying grain/pore filler to even out the surface. The articles/videos I've found online pretty much all say ...
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Finish for thin-skin cedar hot tub to resist water penetration
I’m planning out a build for a cedar 2-person soaker hot tub. Instead of using the traditional design of 1-in cedar boards, done barrel style, I’m thinking of using 1/4 in cedar paneling (oriented ...
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how could you get rid of dimples in DRIED oil based polyurethane? [duplicate]
the dresser was stained with oil based dark walnut,after it dried for days,applied oil based polyurethane,when dried seemed to have alot of small dimples or small bubbles,do i use fine steel wool or ...
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Recreate dark wood/gradient finish
I have a mirror with a frame which has a dark stain which has a gradient into an almost black finish.
Unfortunately a part of the mirror's frame got damage and small chunk was taken out of the frame. ...
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Finishing a table - scratch-resistant, heat-resistant transparent finish
I am currently preparing a project that will involve re-finishing several tables - one cooking and two working ones.
About two decades ago a friend of the family left at my parents' a table he has re-...
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fixing water spots on boiled linseed finish
I learned recently that boiled linseed is not a great finish when exposed to any amount of water. I have a piece near a sink that gets a few drops now and then, and these have become lighter spots due ...
