Isn't it frustrating to clean brass over and over again, it just turns dark so quickly. Well a long time ago an Asian friend taught me that it goes black because of oxygen that gets to the surface. Spray it with lacquer right after it is cleaned, and it will stay bright for years.Spray lacquer ...
Many clear finishes today have what they call "flattening" characteristics which help the material to flow out and let bubbles escape. But depending on the drying conditions, if you put bubbles into your liquid finish, you may have bumps in your dried finish.Two keys to avoiding air bumps in you...
Have you ever purchased a piece of nice wood like a piece of trim, or a wooden cupboard door knob, or some unfinished furniture and have the price sticker sitting right on the finished face? Just peel it off and you can see all the glue that stays on the wood. Then you use solvents, and often t...
Rob from Clinton, Ontario has a great suggestion for getting those fine steel wool fibers out of the wood before finishing. Wrap a strong magnet in a clean cloth and simply wipe over the area.Removing the cloth from the magnet allows you to shake the little pieces of steel wool into the garbage c...
Many years ago when I was active in my cabinet shop I had a place where I could purchase Stainless Steel Wool. This was the best stuff for finishing off oak between coats of finish because if little pieces got caught in the pores of the wood and I failed to get them out, they would not eventuall...
Gail asks: "We are redoing our kitchen. I have taken the drawer fronts and sanded down the wood portion of it. We didn't stain it, we just varnished and I've got matching knobs but will this wood turn dark over time as it has in the past?"There are a lot of reasons why wood might go dark, the m...
I get a lot of questions about choosing and applying a finish to a hardwood floor.First understand that there is no one right answer -- there are a lot of products that each has certain advantages over the others and you need to select the properties that are the most important to you. There are...
Yes that is a floor sander working on this deck. 36 grit paper to level any board cupping. Finish sanding is done with 60 grit sandpaper, yes 60 grit as the finish sanding. The objective is not to create a polished furniture finish, but to open up the grain of the wood so that it will acce...
Whether you drill a hole or remove a wall, it is always difficult to repair a stippled or textured ceiling so that the patch doesn't show.First, check the size of the grains in the texture, and buy a textured mix that has the same sized grains.Apply your patch with a stabbing motion of your pain...
Karen Runstedler from Minwax demonstrated several of their finishing and refinishing products.Of note: if a finish is an older lacquer or shellac finish, you may be able to restore it without stripping off the old finish and without bothering the colour of the wood below. The secret is to use ...
