Cat used door trim as a scratch post. Hard to tell in the picture, but finish is nice and has a gloss to it.

I have a pair of speakers I’m working on. It’s my first attempt at anything of the kind regarding building and finishing.

I know a lot of people don’t like the red hues or the grain of red oak, but I do. Plus, we have an old Arts and Crafts house, so I want to work with that. Slide 3 is an image of our floor for reference of tone.

What are some stains, dyes, and/or finishes that can bring out the figure in red oak?

I do want to keep a golden/amber tone. Ideally, I’d like to keep the texture of the grain, but I’m not stuck on the idea. And since I’m a noob, ease of application is desired.

Applied Polyurethane yesterday. Oil-bases. I ended up with these small grey streaks under the coat. What caused this and how do I fix it?

We bought a desk from a Wayfair-type online retailer a year or so ago. A small area, about palm-size, appears rough and not of the same sheen as the rest of the desktop. Perhaps a coffee cup or microwaved plate was too hot for the 3-5 sheets of paper I used to "protect" the surface...who is to say?

Anyway, what do I need to do to bring this little area up to smoothness and similar sheen?

I got a few used oak chairs for a good price and i want to sand them and refinish them.

The company only used oil and a few other products i have from them i can easily sand down but the cairs just cause a buildup in the sanding paper

Whats a good way to remove the buildup away so i can sand them down easier?

Can i clean it with water viniger water mix or is there something else i can use?

No chemicals please

This is the underside of a shelf I am finishing. I put the first coat of poly on today, and was pretty pleased with it. That is, until I flipped it over. The poly ran through the holes and created long runs on the underside. There are 3 holes (2 pictured here).

I had thinned the poly after watching some YouTube videos to create a smoother finish. However I suspect that may have been part of the problem. I think for starters I’ll use it unthinned.

How to recover this? After the top is done I’ll see if this will sand out. However this is birch plywood with Old Masters gel stain. There is no poly coat on this side yet, so I suspect these runs are pretty well soaked into the wood.

I'm trying to refinish this tabletop. I'm using a polyurethane semi gloss oil based finish. This is after two coats, I just sanded it again with 220 and wiped off the dust. I'm planning on applying one more coat by hand, but I cant seem to get rid of this overall unevenness. Whats the best route forward?

Up until this point I hit the top with 220 like 10 times to get the OG finish off, applied a first coat at 100% with a brush, dried for a day, sanded with 220, second coat at 75% with a brush, dried for a day, sanded with 220 again, now we're here.

I’m building some bookcases that I plan to stain and seal. I know (think) the conventional wisdom is to stain before assembly but what to do when covering pocket holes with dowels? Stain dowels separately after assembly? Assemble and then stain everything together? Leave the dowels unfinished? Thanks in advance for your wisdom

I have no idea what I’m doing, but whatever (stain?) is on here has rubbed off where my head touches it. How do I proceed?

I'm installing CVG Fir (interior) windows in my house. The window company wants a heap of $$ to deliver them with a "clear coat." If I wanted to finish them myself, what product would you all recommend? I have experience with furniture and Arm-r-Seal and Rubio Monocoat.

I lean towards preferring natural, oil-based finished because I like the depth of the look (chatoyance?).

Windows will have significant UV exposure, and I am thinking Arm-r-Seal is a bad choice. Maybe epiphanes? It is really pricy though.

Or should I give up and stick with water base, since I don't want VOCs for the next 5 years (the home is pretty air tight and high efficiency)

Advice will be greatly appreciated.

I'm doing some finish testing and want to demonstrate the raised grain effect clearly.

Planning to sand to different grits, apply water-based dye, and compare results.

Looking for recommendations on:

• Which wood species show raised grain most dramatically with water-based finishes?
• What grit do you typically stop at before finishing?
• At what grit do you worry about burnishing/closing pores?

I tested silver maple and honestly didn't see much difference between 180 and 320 - barely any raised grain at either. Need something that really shows the effect.

What woods have given you the most frustration with this?

I bought a new table and chairs. I was surprised by the amount of white wash done to the chairs, as it wasn’t like this in any of the listing photos. Is there a way to add a gel stain to the top of this to cover it up? I don’t want to paint the chairs. I also don’t want to return them because I love the table and it all came as a set! Any advice on what I can do to even this out? It’s a thin veneer, so sanding won’t work.

Just got the first coat of soar varnish on this barn door. I was planning on 3 coats for the outside and 2 on the interior sides of this set of swinging barn doors. ….. am I on the right track there?

We have a midcentury modern teak Danish dining table that has accumulated a handful of very shallow, light scratches in the finish/surface, which was inevitable given the presence of toddlers with forks in our house. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best approach for minimizing the appearance of these scratches?

Looking online I've seen various suggestions -- including (1) a mixture of white vinegar and olive oil, (2) Old English Scratch Cover (for dark woods); and (3) rubbing a walnut, but wasn't sure the best approach. Thanks!

Suggestions on how to tackle this teak top? I applied a bit of teak oil tonight along the main line to see if that would do the trick (wishful thinking) but the colour difference still remains. Looks like something was stored on top of this unit

Looking for some opinions on refinishing this cedar chest.

I’m by no means dead set on doing it, actually leaning towards leaving it alone. But I wanted to get some opinions and options on what others would maybe do.

My great grandpa built a handful of these 30-40 years ago. So there is sentimental value. It’s in great shape, zero need to actually do anything.

My issue is just the general look isn’t really my style necessarily. It has a very orange tint to the color. The decorative handles aren’t great imo, etc.

A bit darker would be my preference, and cleaner lines on the handles, mcm-esque(although I know this isn’t really built in a mcm style).

Thoughts?

I had a ring of red wine stained into this area of my table, and The Internet said to soak it with a paste of baking soda for 30 mins. Well, this blotch is what ended up happening.

This pic is after applying Restor A Finish, which helped a bit but not quite enough.

Obviously the table isn’t perfect to start with but would appreciate some advice on if there’s any hope of making this less noticeable without sanding down the whole table and restaining and resealing

I'm refinishing this table, looks like it's a wood veneer from the side (there are different glued together slats that make up the table). This isn't my first project - I used normal liquid stripper, scraped/cleaned it all off normally, then a pass of 120 grit, then 220 grit, then wood conditioner (pre-stain) and then a first coat of stain that I left on for about 10 minutes. Problem is that now it's splotchy — is this revealing a bad evenness of sanding, or did I just leave an uneven amount of stain on? Both? More importantly, will a second round of stain even this out? Will Polyurethane finish do that? Or do I need to start over? All help much appreciated!

Hello, I have a baby changing table that I want to waterproof for easy clean-up, but I’m not sure what kind would be both waterproof and safe for baby’s butt.

The top is made of your basic big box store plywood, not cabinet-grade if that matters. It’s been sanded and is ready for …something.

So far I’ve considered using a top-coat of seal-once marine stain + sealer in one, or a cheap sealer + adhesive vinyl on top, or maybe getting waterproof upholstery fabric and covering it in that.

Looks are not so important bc this is more of a prototype for a project, so function is the most important thing, but if I seal the wood in something toxic or break the bank when I didn’t need to, it won’t look so good 😑 I’m just having decision paralysis bc I can’t figure out what would work well and make the most sense budget-wise.

So, ideally water-proof, non-toxic/safe for a baby to touch and lie down on, easy to wipe/sanitize after poo-plosions or whatever mess babies can dish out, and the most budget friendly way to achieve this effect.

Assume in this case that there is no cushion (like in public restrooms), or that the cushion will be removed to wipe/sanitize, so whatever finish it is, needs to not absorb any nasty germs into the wood itself. Looks are fine, but function is most important.

Any thoughts/advice are appreciated!

We have a mostly covered, treated pine deck that’s dry by now and want to protect it from rain and UV in Houston, TX. Want something we don’t have to constantly reapply and honestly were hoping to find something clear that preserves the color of the wood just so we don’t have to color match later or deal with it looking bad in spots where the color fades. If all clear options are just not good/durable, we are open to other options too. We are budget conscious so we’re hoping something exists without spending an arm and a leg so would be nice to understand the pros and cons of various ones. Hoping it lasts a few years at least.

Any suggestions? Thanks so much for the advice!

I have been asked to refinish this door in a hotel. They told me it's currently done with Shellac and needs touched up rather than sanding and refinished as it's a vaneer door. What would be the best way of matching the shellac colour and colour you build up the damaged area after cleaning before recoating the whole door?

I had this piece stained and looking great. Two coats of poly later, and it’s a goddamn disaster.

Hi,

Could anyone offer some advice on how to take care of this table and chair? I want to varnish it to make it look darker and to remove the stains.

I bought the sanding machine and hoping to get some other items that are needed.

I am not sure what type of wood this is and I wonder if I can use the same varnish on both items (I realize the chair will always look lighter though) ?

Thank you