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This week’s question comes from Craig. He writes: “I’m aware of the potential dangers that exist with oily rags used for staining and cleaning with mineral spirits so I’m always careful to dry them out completely before I dispose of them. My question is this: Can you ever ...
This week’ question comes from Hope. She writes: Around 5 years ago or so a friend of mine built me an incredible bed out of mahogany. It is such a beautiful piece and I feel it will become an heirloom. My problem is that I have lost touch with my friend and she did not put a finish or sta...
This article was inspired by a question from Brian. He writes: I recently watched a woodworking show on TV. The cabinet maker used a mixture of linseed oil, tung oil, and polyurethane for the finish. He stated that he bought it off of the shelf. I can’t seem to find anything like it on th...
This Safety Week special article is brought to you by MicroJig! This cautionary tale was was written by community member Tyler Reichelt. I had a close call today. I’m relatively new to the craft and have read up on safety as I’ve gone along. I’ve heard a lot of the horror storie...
like Walnut?” Tung Oil and BLO When it comes to protection, boiled linseed oil (BLO) and pure tung oil are pretty similar. One important thing they have in common is that neither one offers a great deal of protection. If you have to choose between the two, I would say to go for the BLO sinc...
This article was inspired by a question from K Sanchez who writes: “What is the the difference between spar varnish and regular varnish?” Why We Need Outdoor Formulations Before we dig into the details, let’s talk about why we need a different varnish for outdoor applications. A...
This week’s question comes from Eric in Canada who asks: “I know you like to use dewaxed shellac and transtint for a bit of colour, and finish it off with General Finishes. GF is extremely hard to find here in Canada. Dewaxed shellac and the transtint is pretty easy to get. I was wonde...
7;t think you can go wrong with any of the above finishes. Good luck! And here is Mathew’s finished project: I finished the project a couple of weeks ago for my cousin’s wedding gift. It is a chest made of maple and cherry. When it came down to the finish, I used a mix of 50/50 bullse...
We are leading Safety Week 2009 off with a story of a devastating shop fire. Really, this is one of my worst nightmares. If you haven’t thought about fire safety in your shop, you sure as heck will after you hear this story and see the images. Thanks to Mike Mies for sharing his story so t...
Again?!?! Every time Woodworker’s Safety Week rolls around, I can count on at least a few folks saying, “Haven’t we covered everything already?!” Yeah, I’m talking about you Shannon. Ha! Honestly though, it is a valid question. After all, how many times can we talk abo...
The AWFS Las Vegas show is this week so if you’re in the area stop by and say hi to Marc and Nicole at the Festool booth. And last but not least, since Matt couldn’t remember the type of steel to use in hand plane blades as asked in a voicemail by Vic the answer is “O1 steel”...
Recently, I asked Guild members to help me select a finish for my new wall-hanging tool chest. We had the standard options including water-based poly, shellac, lacquer, oil-based poly, and oil & wax. Although water-based poly won with 27% of the votes, there was a very vocal minority (you kn...