How to Finish Woods

Here are some of the most commonly used furniture woods with suggested finishes for each. With the materials described above and the rules described here, you can work out many finishes of your own.

Walnut

Hard and porous, walnut always requires filler for a smooth finish. However, if you wish the texture to show, eliminate the filler.

For a natural finish, mix natural wood filler with a little burnt umber. Fill the wood, sand lightly, and finish with two coats of water-white lacquer.

For an antique gray bleached finish, first bleach the wood (use any commercial bleach available for woods), sand until the natural color shows, then use gray filler. Finish with a coat of lacquer or varnish.

For a stain finish, apply the stain, fill the surface of the wood with wood filler that matches the stain, and finish with varnish or lacquer.

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Stain Finishes

Wood is stained to emphasize grain and natural figure. Many professionals use stain when wood has little natural beauty of color or graining. Most stains give the wood surface little or no protection, so you may want to use a protective finish as well.

For proper staining, the wood surface must be uniformly smooth, clean, and free of any old finish or wax. Try to work on surfaces horizontally; when you must work on a vertical surface, work from the bottom up with continuous edge-to-edge stroke paralleling the grain to minimize drips and overlap marks.

Water stains give a clear, sharp tone with deep penetration. They have the broadest range of brilliant, warm-toned colors. Their disadvantage is that they raise the grain and require at least 24 hours drying time.

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Once you have completed the construction of a piece of furniture, you should decide on the type of finish you will give the wood. The most suitable finish depends on two considerations: how tough a surface you want and the type of wood you are using.

Before applying your selected finish to an entire project, try it out on the underside or on a scrap of the same type of wood. You’ll often have to experiment with finishes in order to achieve a uniformly rich appearance over the entire project since many of those shown are made from a combination of woods.

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Two types of plastic are commonly used in furniture building; acrylic plastic and plastic laminate. Acrylic plastic is used as the principal material in construction of contemporary furniture. Plastic laminate finds use as a hard top for counters and tables.

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One very versatile artificial paneling material is hardboard. Usually quite smooth on one side and screened on the reverse, hardboard is made of wood chips that have been separated into individual fibers then bonded under heat and pressure into sheets of dense wood fiber. For added moisture resistance and strength, some hardboard is tempered with thermal-setting materials baked into place.

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Several types of superior wood products have been developed by modern technology. The majority are wooden “sheet” materials – flat sheets of laminated or compressed wood products that are generally stronger, more flexible, and less likely to split than ordinary lumber. They expand and contract less than common lumber and are available in large sizes (usually 4 by 8-foot sheets) that would be impossible to mill and distribute in the wood’s natural form. They are sometimes available in half sheets (4 by 4 feet) or odd sizes. All of these products fall under the categories of either plywood or hardboard.

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Before you begin the actual construction of a piece of furniture, it’s a good idea to have a basic knowledge of certain products, tools, and techniques. Familiarity with building materials will enable you to make proper selections for your project – and you can use materials other than those specified in plans if you are aware of their advantages and shortcomings. Although you may be reasonably adept at working with basic hand tools, check out the various types of power tools that can save you time and effort. Also, make it a point to learn how to put together basic furniture elements such as tabletops, drawers, and cabinet doors. The selection that follows is intended as a quick reference guide to some of the most important aspects of furniture building – from selection of the materials to applying the final finish.

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The bedroom is often the most neglected living space in the house because it’ seldom seen by guest. It is a sanctuary dressing area with its multi-purpose nature sleeping space.

The time has long since past when we hastily pulled the covers over our heads at night and wake up in the morning shivering with cold. However, now we want to have an option open to us in the bedroom same as we do in the living room. This means that the bedroom is not merely for sleeping only but for relaxation, browsing the internet, watching television or working in earnest. The bedroom is a private room where you can snuggle up without prying eyes – a comfortable place in which to retreat from the world.

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Dowels can be very handy for supporting shelves from the sides. If shelf ends are notched, you can build a room-dividing-bookcase by cutting a standard 4 by 4 to reach from floor to ceiling (where it is attached with an L-shaped bracket) and running dowels through at varying heights to hold the shelf ends. Or, a back cleat can be combined with pins or dowels on the sides of a bookcase to form a sturdy support.

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Bookshelves are about the easiest type of furniture to build, and because almost everyone can use an additional place to park books, a bookshelf is a great project for beginning craftsmen. Too, in economical terms, bookshelves can usually be less expensively constructed than purchase.

When you decide to make your bookshelf, first choose a space it will fill. Would you prefer it against a wall or freestanding as a room divider? If you are really short of space, you might even decide to build into a wall. Read the rest of this entry »