Looking for good book on wood finishing

[Dick Snyder]

I am looking for a good book to read on wood finishing. I am not trying to make exotic things that require years of experience. Maybe an example will help. I made a dresser this winter from oak plywood. I stained it with Minwax Golden Oak and then put on three coats of low gloss poly to seal it. I don't like how it looks. The stain brought out the grain too much. I should have probably appplied some kind of a wood filler something first.

In any case, that is the kind of thing I would like to read about for now - call it Wood Finishing 101. Do you have any recommendations for me?

TIA.

Dick Snyder

[WillR]

Think I can recommend this book...

Wood Finishing

Understanding Wood Finishing - Woodworking by Bob Flexner

It seems to answer a lot of the questions that come up here.

FYI it points out that many of the beloved finishes that get rhapsodies=20 here are polymerized oils -- (plastics -- oh the horror of it all!)=20 things like BLO and Polymerized Tung oil... Geez no better than wipe on=20 poly --

Polyurethane works great over stained cherry.

Just duck if you mention here that you did so...

--=20 Will R. Jewel Boxes and Wood Art

power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those=20 who have not got it.=94 George Bernard Shaw

[Patriarch]

"Dick Snyder" wrote in news:ePSdnVra0J0v [e-mail]:

Start with almost anything by Michael Dresdner, Jeff Jewitt or Bob Flexner. Then read something by one of the others.

A library should do. Anything published in the last ten years will give you a good start.

Patriarch

[BillyBob]

Understanding Wood Finishing - Woodworking by Bob Flexner

I second that motion!

Bob

[Stephen M]

I disagree *slightly* :-)

I own the suggested Flexner book. It is not a book that you want to borrow. At $20, it is a book that you should own. It is the sort of book that you will want to "go back and re-read the section on shellac" when you get the hankering to try french polish, or whatever.

-Steve

[nospambob]

[Larry Jaques]

Jeff Jewitt's "Hand Applied Finishes" is all the finishing book most folks will ever need.

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[Dick Snyder]

Our local library system has one book by Flexner (Understanding Woodfinishing), two by Jewitt, and one by Dresdner. I will borrow them (thanks for the idea Patriarch) and see which I want to buy. Sounds like I really can't go wrong with any of them.

Thanks for all your help. This newsgroup is excellent.

Dick Snyder

[Barry Lennox]

I agree, it's good, but I also get a lot of good info out of "Classic Finishing Techniques" by Sam Allen. ISBN 0 8069 0513 1

Barry Lennox