Understanding Wood Finishes

Stains, colors, paints, oils, penetrating, film, lacquer -- there are so many different parts that can go into the process of a wood finish. In fact, about 30% of the manufacturer's cost on a good piece of wood furniture is tied up in the wood's finish.

One of the first "problems" that all furniture-makers have (even artisans who handcraft their furniture) is the natural variation in the woods they use. It might take several small trees to make a dining room set with eight chairs, a long table with several leaves, a buffet and a large china cabinet. Each of the boards coming from these trees will take the stain color a little differently -- and in some cases, even within a tree, different boards will react somewhat differently to the coloring process (stain, paint or oil).

Manufacturers who use "engraved," "roto" or "photographic" finishes to create a consistent wood color and finish on less expensive furniture can sell their
pieces much more cheaply because they're using more inexpensive pressed wood rather than plied-woods and veneers. Since the wood grain is created by the finish process rather than showing the natural variations of a solid wood board, each piece matches exactly. This is why so many inexpensive furniture sets match in color much more closely than more expensive sets. The variation is the charm of any natural product, whether wood, leather, stone or plant.

Of course, repairing the inexpensive furniture if the finish is damaged becomes a lot more complicated. The damaged area would have to be filled with wood putty, sanded down and then the grain pattern would have to be painted back on, using the precise colors of the original in order to match the whole piece. Then a finish coat
would need to be applied -- again it would have to match the surrounding finish exactly or the repaired area will still stick out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, a real wood piece (yes, even a real wood veneered piece) can usually be fixed with a wax stick or furniture "crayon" sold in almost all hardware stores. Some marks can even be repaired just by using an appropriately colored furniture polish!
In general, the finish system for wood goes through three major stages: Filling, Sealing, Finishing.

Applying any fillers is necessary to make the wood more completely smooth. Open grain woods cannot always be sanded into a perfectly smooth state, so if the piece of
furniture requires a smooth finish, some filler has to be used (particularly for ash,
elm and oak). Sealers are then typically sprayed on, allowed to dry and then sanded to create a smooth base for the next stage.

Finishing Terms

Finishes can take several different forms. Walnut and pecan, for example, generally
have a linseed oil finish applied since the wood itself is so richly colored. Finishes like this require another coat of the oil applied to it regularly. The polyester finish, another type of finish, comes in a wide variety of colors which can give the wood a beautiful sense of depth. These finishes are easy to maintain and quite durable, often producing a mirror-shine and resisting
scratches admirably. These finishes -- and other synthetic finishes -- do not require
hand rubbing to produce a high gloss finish as many older finishes did.

• Glazes: Have finely dispersed pigments in a slow drying solution. Generally has
an opaque color to the finish.
• Color Washing: Using thinned paint or glaze, the color is applied over a dry
surface, and then wiped off using a cloth, feathers or a brush depending on the look or pattern desired. Surfaces look best if only a thin layer of wash remains.
• Combing: Using a cloth, cardboard or decorator's comb (the comb might be plastic, steel or rubber), the "comb" is run through a wet surface, paint, glaze
or a light plaster. This produces a checkered or parallel effect.
• Gilding: Thin gold leaves are applied to the wood.
• Lacquer: A form of resinous varnish capable of taking on a high polish. Applied
in layers, each layer must dry and be slightly sanded before the next layer
can be applied.
• Spattering: Paint is flicked onto a dry surface from a wet brush using a variety
of hand movements, creating a random effect.

Wood Veneers

The use of veneers dates back to ancient Egypt where they often used veneers of African ebony trees and glued them to boards of the less expensive cedar -- sometimes
for a decorative pattern, sometimes to make the piece look like it was made wholly
of ebony. The use of veneers has continued throughout our history. In fact, the most
respected and re-known furniture makers, Chippendale, Sheraton and Hepplewhite, all
used veneers in their furniture. Veneer has been around for a long, long time. It has a reputation among some that it is not as good as a piece made solely of that
veneer wood. Actually, current woodworking techniques mean that veneered woods are generally a more stable and better quality than a solid piece of wood! Solid wood has the potential to crack, warp, expand and contract with the weather and is
generally not a stable material over a long period of time. Veneered wood is lighter
and generally more stable. They resist cracking and warping somewhat. The best
veneers use five to seven different plies of wood with the grain turned 90 degrees with each ply. In conditions which would make a plank of wood warp, expand or contract, this type of ply-wood would remain more stable since each ply of wood would
want to move in a different direction from the plies surrounding it. So each ply helps keep the other plies from moving. These 90 degree turns, then, create a much more stable piece of wood. The final ply is the veneer, which is typically only 1/32 of an inch thick.

If you are looking at furniture which needs any long panel or piece of wood, you should look for a piece which is veneered. Bookcases and tall dressers, for example, should have veneered sides. If not, the piece will probably warp out of square or even develop cracks as the wood continues to settle and change with the changes in temperature and humidity in your home.

Veneer gives us the ability to have beautiful and rare woods in our home at a lower cost and modern veneering techniques actually strengthen the wood to withstand our modern environment.