Just a trick for mixing those finishing products in a can: instead of just using a stick or wood leftover I prefer an old hand mixer which would be too weak for kitchen duty. Instead of throwing it away, re-use it to mix those wood finishers and then immediately clean the excess from the metal parts of the mixer. This would make a very well mixed product in a matter of seconds.
I recommend reading the Bob Flexner book "Understanding Wood Finishing" if you want to know finishes. It breaks many of the myths that still exist about finishes. For example, we can know what's in these finishes. Most of the information about what's in the products is published for chemical industry people but not woodworkers.
what is varnish exactly? the term seems to be misused as both a specific and general term. what is in varnish? is shellac varnish or is it a type of varnish? confusing
Nice quick tutorial on wood finishes. Like how u broken the different types down to 3 groups and how u explained them. I've basically just been using "tung oil" and a wax finish but now want to experiment a bit more after seeing this video
The best product I've found to ebonize wood is black ink. A big bottle is sold by office supply places, and is inexpensive. The Speedball brand of India ink what I have used. It dries really fast and looks great.
Dyes are a helluva subject. I bought a Keda powder dye kit with the intent of using it to see if I could dye some wood purple. Well, it turns out that figuring out color mixtures is NOT intuitive AND the dyes are incredibly difficult to work with in terms of mess and staining stuff (eg, fingers!!!!!!!!!!!). I never got the color I wanted, BTW.
I read an article on black dye and they used India black ink and that is the best, pure black can’t see the difference between ebony and the dye. One application is enough
Can you help me out, I'm regularly confused by the term, "varnish." What exactly did you add to the Danish oil? In addition, I also hear polyurethane referred to but rarely is it stated as water or oil based. I guess it's assumed to be oil based most of the time but with all the advances in water based products maybe that's wrong.
If I am correct, most "varnishes" are a hard film. Polyurethane for example. Poly does come in water or oil-based versions. It should be clearly (although sometimes in small print) marked on the front of the label. From my personal experience, water based poly usually has a milky look until it cures. I hope this helps, but I could be mistaken. "Stumpy Nubs" has some decent finish videos as well that might be worth taking a look at. Not that Colin does a bad job!
I'm not an expert but I built a cedar table and bench for our patio and used Minwax tongue oil. As needed I'll just add another coat to it. No sanding needed.
I consider the wood working community on Y/T to be priceless for beginners like myself. Almost any question will receive numerous suggestions. I hope to someday reach a level where I can offer help. Thank you all !
Suzy, Jonny, Michael, Georgi(Yorgos), being civilized kept sending cools tips, all others shut up and stayed in check. They had never seen wood before.
