Understanding Wood Finishing: How to Select and Apply the Right Finish [Hardcover]

Bob Flexner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2005

Taking the mystery out of wood finishing, this completely updated second edition includes the latest technical updates on materials and techniques—from spray guns to French polishing—with detailed step-by-step instructions and explanations. The most practical, comprehensive book on finishing ever published, this guide offers advice for troubleshooting, distinguishing different products, and suggestions for creating beautiful finishes.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Given the abundance of titles on wood finishing published in 1993, librarians might be inclined to dismiss this one, which would be a definite mistake. Flexner, who has 20 years of finishing experience and has written for many woodworking magazines, assumes no experience in finishing wood. He provides comprehensive treatment of the various finishes, application techniques, chemical cautions, and reactions, convincingly overthrowing much of the conventional wisdom about finishing. His book gives readers a wood finishing consultant available whenever they need it for the price of an hour's time. Highly recommended. (Index not seen.)-- Alex Hartmann, Bloomsburg Univ. Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

With its clear writing and engaging style, this is without a doubt the best researched, most authoritative, and easy-to-follow book on the subject. - Steve Shanesy, Popular Woodworking magazine editor

As professional finishers know and as amateurs will surely realize, finishing is easy once you know what you are doing. Understanding Wood Finishing makes the science of finishing understandable. - Frank Klausz, a professional cabinetmaker

We use Understanding Wood Finishing as the textbook for our students training to go ionto the furniture industry. It's the best written, most accurate, and most thorough wood finishing book in print by far. - David Miles, wood technology professor at Pittsburg State University

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Readers Digest; Rev Upd edition (June 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762106212
• ISBN-13: 978-0762106219
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

143 of 143 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Single best book on wood staining & finishing, June 19, 2000

By 

sh "sh" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Wood Finishing (American Woodworker) (Paperback)

A friend loaned me a copy of this book when I was trying to figure how to stain a cherry cabinet without the typical splotchy results one usually gets with this difficult-to-stain wood. This book not only addressed that problem, it gave several techniques to deal with it. Flexner even explained why different brands of stain would have different results. I was so impressed I bought my own copy. No other book I've seen does such a great job of explaining the technical aspects of how finishes work, and what protection each kind of finish provides, while keeping the text easy to follow and understand. This makes it a great book for learning about the many different stains and wood finishes.

Plus, it is more comprehensive than other wood finishing books I've seen. It explains in detail the different application techniques, when and how to use them. There are plenty of helpful illustrations, including color photo examples of different stains and finishes on various woods. So it is a great reference source when working on a particular project and trying to decide the best finish or application technique to use.

I keep looking for other books on wood finishing that would add to what is in this book. But I haven't come across any yet.

91 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So you'd like to finish wood?, June 15, 2002

By 

"jtacoustics" (Grantham, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Wood Finishing (American Woodworker) (Paperback)

This book is a GREAT place to start your journey into wood finishing.

Bob starts by systematically explaining the logic and science behind different types of finish, including oils (varnish "oils" too, polyurethane and such), shellac, lacquer, conversion, waterbase, waxes, and more.

He also explains application methodology IN DEPTH, such as, french polishing, brushing, spraying.

He explains shaping tools (these include scrapers with sharpening methods, spokeshave devices, steel wools, rubbing compounds, sandpapers (all types)) and how to use them to achieve results.

He then goes in depth into suggestions for different woods, limited exotics and many domestics, as well as good rule of thumb's.

Main positives to this book: Mr. Flexner has given in depth and yet layman's explanations of how finishes work and the chemicals involved. This is integral to applying a good finish, in my opinion. This book could stand alone as everything a fledgling finisher needs to tackle any project.

Main negatives: Mr. Flexner is very informative and systematic. That said, he is obviously not a writer by trade. You WILL find yourself treating this as a reference book, its not a "sunday read" for the woodworking inclined. Several times (not many, but a couple) he contradicts himself (there is a passage that "debunks" the myth of better protection from thicker film build of a finish, and then later he suggests building the finish to a thicker film for "better protection...")

These negative in my opinion NO way detract from the book. It is an incredible reference tool for the amateur, and marks a necessary item for the professional finisher's bookshelf.

JTAcoustics

70 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Wood Finishing, December 8, 1999

By 

Stephen J Muenster (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Wood Finishing (American Woodworker) (Paperback)

I have bought a number of books on woodworking, as well as a few on wood finishing. This is by far the best book on finishing that I have come across. The book takes all the mystery out of all the different types of finishing materials and finishing processes. The author does a great job of explaining how each type of finish works as well as why certain stains and finishes work better on different types of wood. I would recomend this book to any woodworker who has ever screwed up a project by putting on a bad finish, or any woodworker who only uses one type of finish because that is all they know. This book will take the guesswork and fear out of finishing your projects.