Grab yourself a good quality brush and
prepare to -- Microjig, maker of the Gripper.
Work safer. Work smarter. --
You'll probably want to protect most of
your projects you make with a finish. But
applying a wood finish doesn't have to
be complicated. Let's look at the basics
to make things even easier on you. Some
projects may not require any finish at
all. For example there's no huge benefit
to applying a finish to shop projects. A
storage or tool cabinets or tables or
work benches. Of course if you have a lot
of visitors to your shop and you'd like
to show off a beautiful workspace, then
by all means, spruce up your shop
fixtures. I like to paint some of my shop
cabinets because the bright colors just
make me happy and brighten up my mood. 
Speaking of which, I believe paint is the
strongest, most durable, most practical,
easiest to apply, finish there is. If it's
long-term durability you want, go with
paint. I mean really, we use paint on our
houses for a reason, because they're
subjected to all kinds of harsh weather
conditions. Plus the choice of colors is
unlimited. But of course the main
drawback to paint is that it hides the
wood and from my own experience on this
show, that tends to make some people
cranky. There are lots of great-looking
examples of painted furniture, and it
really shouldn't be discounted as an
option. But for this video I'm only going
to focus on clear protective topcoat.
There are two main reasons to apply
finish to wood projects. First, wood
finishes help to protect wood from
scratches, moisture damage, spills, stains,
and UV damage from sunlight. Secondly, a
finish will make wood look great. It's
very rewarding to watch the color and
grain pop as soon as you apply a finish.
Plus a nicely finished piece is very
tactile and it just feels nice no matter
what type of finish you use. It's
important to sand your project first. I
usually start with a 120 grit sandpaper
and then
move up to a 220 grit sandpaper and I
stop there. There's rarely any reason
to sand to any finer grit because the
smooth feel of your surfaces will come
from the finish that you apply after
sanding. Make sure you remove all of the
sawdust from your project. Dust particles
are the bane of a good finish. I like to
vacuum off the surfaces then wipe them
off with a tack cloth then with a clean
lint-free cloth like an old t-shirt. I
wipe everything down with mineral
spirits or paint Center and this will
also highlight any dents that are in the
wood or any dried glue you may have
missed. Plus it gives you a quick preview
of what the wood will look like once
it's finished. For lots more information
on sanding watch this basic video over
here. If you go to a home center or
hardware store it's easy to be
overwhelmed with choices. There are a lot
of ways you could finish wood. There are
entire books on the subject of finishing.
In this video I'm only going to discuss
a few of the most common finishes that
hobbyists might want to use. There are
two main kinds of finish. First, a layered
finish. One that sticks to the surface of
the wood, kind of like paint does. This
includes polyurethane, lacquer, and other
varnishes. And secondly, an oil finish, one
that penetrates into the grain of the
wood such as linseed oil or tung oil. In
general, a layered finish will offer a
lot more protection to the wood, but it
can look a little artificial or in some
cases kind of plastic-y. Oil finishes
on the other hand, are kind of earthier.
The wood looks great and more natural
but they don't offer nearly as much
protection. Polyurethane is probably the
most popular finish today. The biggest
drawback is that it can be very time
consuming to apply. To get a good finish
you need to apply at least three coats
which realistically might take three
days. Applying any finish with a brush
is different than painting. The goal is
to avoid swiping back and forth and
creating streaks or leaving behind air
bubbles. It's a good idea to pour your
finish into a separate container to use
rather than straight out of the can.
This will help prevent contaminating
your main supply. I like to start by
conditioning my brush and dipping it in
mineral spirits and soaking the bristles.
Dip the brush into the finish all the
way up to the ferrule and let it soak up
as much as it can. Lightly press the tip
against the can to remove any excess
that might drip. A good quality brush
should hold quite a bit of finish. Start
at one edge of the wood and try to apply
the finish in one long stroke along the
entire length of the board, pressing down
more and more on the brush as you get to
the end, letting it release the finish the entire
way. Fill the brush up again and apply
more slightly overlapping the first
stroke. Mostly avoid brushing back and
forth as if you were painting a fence.
Use long steady strokes trying to let
the finish flow as evenly as possible
brush slowly and don't stop to take a
break until the entire surface is
completely covered. If you find that
you've missed a spot,
skip it. Just leave it for the next coat.
If you try to dab in a patch it can make
it look worse. Also it's a good idea to
start with the edges and vertical
surfaces of a project, then finish up
with the top surface. Check the back of
the can to see how much time you need to
let it dry between coats. It could be 5
hours or more for an oil-based
polyurethane and less time for
water-based. Dry times will also differ
based on temperature and humidity. Once
each coat is dry it should be lightly
sanded with 320 grit sandpaper to remove
any dust nibs and help smooth the
surface. But don't drive yourself crazy
trying to get every inch perfectly
sanded. In my experience, polyurethane
will adhere just fine to the previous
layer even without sanding. But sanding
will give the finish a
smoother feel. And make sure you remove
all of the sanding dust before applying
the next coat. Pay extra special care to
applying the final coat to avoid brush
marks, runs, and streaks. And use a good
quality brush. You can buy oil or
water-based poly. Both provide excellent
protection to wood and each has its own
advantages and disadvantages.
Water-based poly is a lot easier to use.
It has less odor and cleanup is easy
with just soap and water. To clean up
oil-based poly, you'll need mineral
spirits. Water-based poly dries a lot
faster than oil-based poly but you'll
need to apply more coats. Usually three
coats is fine for oil, but water-based
poly will need four or even more coats.
But really the biggest difference in the
two types is how they look on wood. I
tend to prefer oil-based polyurethane
because it gives the wood a warmer
somewhat amber look that most people
find very pleasing. Water-based poly is
really clear sometimes people complain
that it looks like a plastic coating on
wood. Finally, there's a third option
called wipe-on poly which is just
regular polyurethane that the
manufacturer has thinned down with mineral
spirits. You can actually just make your
own if you like. It's easy to apply, just
pour some on a rag and wipe it on the
wood. Wipe-on poly finish can look really
great and sometimes even better than a
brushed on finish. Of course you'll
probably need to add more coats of it
for good results. If you've watched my
show for any length of time you know
that my favorite finish to use is a
lacquer. It looks great and it dries
incredibly fast. With lacquer you can
finish an entire project in just a few
hours. Even faster for small projects.
Almost all wood furniture that you might
buy at a store is finished with lacquer.
In industrial and professional
production environments it's always sprayed
on with an HVLP sprayer. You can learn
more about HVLP spraying
here. Luckily there are two easier
options available for hobbyists and
weekened woodworkers. The first is
brushing lacquer. Apply it using the
exact same brushing procedure I
described for polyurethane. The only
change in technique is to brush a little
faster and definitely, definitely don't
brush back and forth. Lacquer dries
so quickly that it can gum up if you
overwork it. Again, if you miss a spot
don't try to fix it, just get it in the
next coat. If you can set up a backlight
so that you can look across the surface
as you apply the finish that helps out a
lot. The best part about lacquer is that
you don't need to sand it between coats.
Rather than sitting on top of each other,
each coat fuses into the one beneath it
and this combination of fast drying and
not having to sand allows you to build
up lots of coats of lacquer in a very
short time. You'll need lacquer thinner to
clean your brushes but I don't clean the
brushes thoroughly between coats. I like
to just wrap the brush in a paper towel
or rag moistened with lacquer thinner
and just put it in a plastic bag. I like
to lightly sand the surface before
applying the final coat of lacquer this
will knock down any little dust nibs or
drips and make the top coat very smooth.
Without question, lacquer from a spray
can is my go-to finish. It's easy to apply,
just spray it on in a back-and-forth
motion being careful not to get too
close or too slow where it can develop
drips or runs. For small projects spray
lacquer is an absolutely fantastic
finish. You don't need any brushes or
lacquer thinner. To learn more about my
technique for getting a great spray
lacquer finish, watch this video over
here. After the lacquer has fully cured
say 24 hours or so, I like to smooth out
the topcoat. To me this is what separates
a good finish from a great finish. One
that is
very tactile and feels smooth without any
dust nibs or other imperfections. I
almost always use gloss lacquer to get
an easy satin finish. From that I lightly
sand the surface with Faurot steel wool
or a gray synthetic scrubbing pad. If you
want you can actually rub that finish to
a super high-gloss finish using finer
and finer sandpaper and pumice. But
that's a topic for another video. I
usually limit it to just that one
smoothing because I like the look and
feel of a satin finish. Of course you can
buy satin lacquer but you'll still need
to rub down that final coat if you want
it to have that great tactile feel. Gloss
lacquer is just more versatile. Lacquer
can be more expensive than other
finishes, especially the spray cans.
Secondly, lacquer has a very strong order
that can be really harmful to breathe so
use a respirator rated for organic
vapors and solvent filtering. Lastly, some
people complain about the look of
lacquered finishes saying they look too
artificial. I don't share that opinion at
all and I love the look of lacquered
pieces. When you want a beautiful finish
that looks absolutely gorgeous and
really shows off the wood, an oil finish
is a great option, plus it's really the
easiest finish to apply. But like I
mentioned earlier, an oil finish doesn't
offer much protection to wood it would
not be a good choice say for a dining
table or a desk that's subjected to a
lot of use. But an oil finish can be a
good option for decorative pieces say
picture frames or jewelry boxes. Oil
finishes are arguably the most natural
looking, close to the wood, earthy way to
finish wood. There are basically two
types of oil finishes Tung oil and
Linseed oil.
They both penetrate into the wood unlike
lacquer or polyurethane that builds up
on top of the wood. Applying either one
is easy you just pour some on a rag or
directly on the wood surface and wipe it
in. Let it sit for five to ten minutes
then wipe it off. If I'm using Linseed
oil I'd like to let it dry a couple of
hours and then lightly sand the surface
and apply a second coat. I've never seen
any benefit to applying any more coats
than two. Let it dry overnight and you're
good to go.
Tung oil on the other hand can take days.
Use the same wipe on wipe off procedure
as a linseed oil but let it dry 24 hours
before sanding it and applying the next
coat. Usually you'll need to apply four
or five coats. The benefit to Tung oil is
that it offers more water resistance
than linseed oil so it might be a good
choice for say an end table that doesn't
get a whole lot of use. But if water
resistance is your main concern why
bother with an oil finish at all? Just
use poly or lacquer. A third alternative
that I consider an oil finish is Danish
oil and it it's actually a blend of
polyurethane and Tung or linseed oil. I
think it tries to be the best of both
worlds in for the most part it does a
pretty good job. But as you might expect
it doesn't look quite as natural as a
pure oil finish and it doesn't offer the
protection of a layered finish. In fact, a
lot of people apply a coat of straight
polyurethane on top of the Danish oil
for added protection. For the most part
finishing doesn't have to be a real
chore and for small projects you can't
go wrong with the simplicity of spray
lacquer.
Well there are lots of other types of
finishes such as shellac and finishing
wax and there are tons of different
techniques for finishing wood. I hope
this video has been helpful and is
enough to get you started. Please be sure
to subscribe to Woodworking for Mere
Mortals and share this video if you
found it useful. Thanks for watching
everybody! I'll see you next time.
