Any woodworker who's worked with hardwoods -- walnut, cherry, oak, etc. - knows how rich the grain patterns and colors are when compared with ordinary softwoods. Unfortunately, however, there aren't many of us who can afford to build every project out of these expensive hardwoods.

How to Paint Woodwork: Tips and Techniques

Brushing a silky smooth finish on woodwork takes patience and attention to detail. In this article, we'll show you the tricks and techniques that pros use to get a flawless finish. Our step-by-step instructions and how-to photos will walk you through the prep work, then show you how to apply a durable, attractive finish that will improve the look of any room in your home.

How to Repaint and Distress Wood Furniture

You want to give your old furniture a new, distressed look to fit in with your antique interior décor. How do you go about doing this? It's not as hard as it seems: in fact, there is more than one way to do it.

Easy Paint Techniques for Achieving Aged Finishes on Wood or Metal

Achieving aged finishes on various wood or metal items can be a satisfying and economical procedure, especially if you have more ideas than money. Found items can be obtained at auction, tag sales or even your own garage and taking a little bit of time and making a little bit of effort can yield you the perfect accent piece for your home.

Milk Paint - Make Your Projects Look Authentically Antique

Before there were paint stores, the coating most often used to paint pictures on cave walls, brighten log cabin walls, and furniture, was Milk Paint. It can be traced back as far as 20,000 years but for our purposes the 1700s, 1800s and 1900s are what we are most concerned about.

A Revolution in Paint Removal - The Silent Paint Remover

Sometimes I buy tools to do jobs that I hate doing, then I find out that the job wasn't so bad after all when I had the right tool. The feature tool for his issue is something called the "Silent Paint Remover" (SPR). Around our house the paint stripper is my wife, and depending on the project she is working on, she is anything but silent, so this tool intrigued me.

Water-Based Dyes and Pinned Tenons

Trying to do two different colors can sure be tricky with water-based dye. The water just absorbs so quickly and pulls the dye into the grain, that the color is difficult to control. I am building Maple Morris chairs and I am thinking of using water based dyes from General Finishes. I would like to do the leg outside edges in say a burgundy or ebony and the rest of the chair in light or medium brown.

Pros and Cons of Waterborne Finishes

Here's a long discussion of reasons to prefer waterborne finishes. I'm thinking about switching to water based finishes. Besides the health issue, what are other advantages or disadvantages? Are the finishes just as good as solvent based? I never used them, but I think it is the future and I would like to at least give it a try.