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Bob Flexner explains how to repair sun damage on exterior doors and offers some tips on how to find finishes with UV protection.

Bob Flexner provides a short explanation of lacquer thinner; its components, its use, and how this product can vary depending on what state you're in.

Winter is fast approaching, and it may be that your shop or garage is not warm enough for finishes to dry in a reasonable time. Bob Flexner has the answer.

Recently at a meeting of the Wood Products Manufacturers Association, executives were asked to list their main business challenges. Nearly all listed the same three: finding skilled workers, [...]

You may have seen some of my complaints directed at Minwax and General Finishes for listing “aliphatic hydrocarbons” as an ingredient on some of their products rather than the more common [...]

I’ve written several times in the last year or so about paint strippers that contain methylene chloride or n-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP). My first relevant article in Popular Woodworking [...]

Here’s a question that comes up often. I just got it again from a reader. Is it necessary to finish both sides of tabletops to prevent warping?

A reader wanted to know if he should apply a lacquer sanding sealer on some wood that had had a coat of shellac already applied. He intends to continue with topcoats of lacquer. There is so much [...]

The usual way of applying stain is to apply a wet coat and wipe off the excess before it dries. You can use a rag, brush or spray gun to apply the stain. When you wipe off the excess, you …

The instructions for applying oil and wiping-varnish finishes are usually to wipe or brush on a wet coat, wait a bit, then wipe off the excess and let what remains dry. So I got this question [...]

There are really only two things they (or you) can do with a finish that can’t be fixed fairly easily. One is to apply a stain to a blotch-prone wood, and the other is to apply a stain to any …

I got a call from a long-time client asking me to come by and see if I could fix the heat damage to her dining table. I was actually quite familiar with that table. Twenty years previously she [...]