Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Finishing (Hardcover)

by Jeff Jewitt (Author), Susan Jewitt (Author) "THE TOOLS USED to prepare wood may not seem as glamorous as table saws or routers, but they are every bit as important..." (more)
Key Phrases: padding stains, evaporative finishes, gray synthetic abrasive pad, Controlling Color, Finishing Tools, The Finishing Environment (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
With scores of color photos showing in medias res finishing work and dozens of carefully composed illustrations showing angles, strokes and tools, this latest entry in Taunton’s guide series should give even the most amateur aspirant a shot at sophisticated wood finishing effects. Jewitt, a Cleveland-based refinisher who runs his own business, is the veteran of two previous books, Hand-Applied Finishes and Great Wood Finishes. Here, he uses his expertise to introduce would-be home finishers to everything from the right brushes and spray guns ("conventional" v. "HVLP," or High Volume Low Pressure), to the proper techniques for sanding molded edges by hand, to the difference between glazing and toning. The book is intelligently laid out: no page is ever too busy, but each spread contains enough information to take readers through a full step of a process so that they don’t have to drop whatever tools are in hand to flip a page. Well paced and comprehensive, Jewitt’s book is a valuable resource for neophytes and pros alike.
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Product Description
Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Finishing features advanced techniques on controlling and adjusting color, disguising defects, and repairing finishes. This clear and comprehensive volume for woodworkers includes 850 color photos as well as 30 color illustrations.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Taunton; illustrated edition edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561585920
• ISBN-13: 978-1561585922
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,339 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Woodworking > Furniture & Carpentry
  #3 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Woodworking > Projects
  #32 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Engineering > Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bob Flexner, move over, there's a new book in town, May 6, 2004

By	Keith Mealy (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At over 300 pages of superbly illustrated information, this book is the new bible on wood finishing. The words "Complete" and "Illustrated" in the title tell it all.

Just about everything you need to know about finishing from basics to advanced is covered. Every topic is illustrated with full-color photos and line drawings when needed.

Plenty of hints, off-page references and guidance.

Topics are covered in anywhere from a half-page with three photos to whole chapters. Jeff and his wife, Susan, the photographer, have gone out of their way to show every process and product talked about. Every chapter is organized the same way, which may be the way of Taunton's new, "Complete Illustrated Guide to..."

If you are only going to buy one book on finishing, or if you have a whole shelf full, you need to buy and read this book.

Great job, Jeff and Susan!

Now that I have a bit more time, I thought the table of contents would be interesting and tell more about the wealth of information in this book:
1) The finishing environment
2) Tools for surface preparation
3) Finishing Tools
4) Preparing Flat Surfaces
5) Preparation of Curved and Complex Surfaces
6) Fixing defects
7) Stain Basics and Application
8) Glazes, Padding Stains and Toners
9) Natural Dyes, Chemical Stains and Bleaches
10) Controlling Color
11) Filling Pores
12) Sealers
13) Choosing a Finish
14) Reactive finishes (including new conversion finishes)
15) Evaporative finishes

16) Water-Based Finishes
17) Rubbing out Finishes

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The current BEST of the finishing books, January 24, 2005

By	AK (KY United States) - See all my reviews

I've read a bunch of finishing books in search of the perfect finish. This book is by far the most thorough, best organized book out there. The quality of the images and illustrations are outstanding and the books is packed full of useful information. I love all of the high quality images they use to show you errors in finishes and then go on to show you how to resolve the problems. They give pluses and minuses of each finishing technique and show you the best ways to apply them. All in all, A GREAT BOOK.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars May not be the best book for beginners, November 15, 2006

By	Caleb James (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book lives up to its name. It is "complete". If you are looking for a straight forward explination of how to do certain finishes this is not the book for you. The book is around 300 pages and you can expect to read most of the pages before you get a good idea of how to "completely" finish a project. This is more like a college text book rather then a finishing guide for dumbies. For me I like this kind of approach since I want to know why I am doing a certain process rather than just what is the next step in a finising process like a french polish for example. The only reason I didn't give this a five star is that the explinations are not very clearly stated. Like I said you have to do alot of reading of different sections before you can put things together. I hope this helps someone to decide if this is the book for them.