Products I Prefer

When it comes to building professional furniture the common off-the-shelf products you find at most home stores are consumer grade and I don’t use them. There, I said it. The products they sell are cheap and consumer grade. For most people tackling a project themselves the result will be good enough. However, if the same person were to commission me to build the same item, it will be judged against other professional products, and it SHOULD be. This is just a small sample in general categories.

I prefer using hardwax oils on most furniture projects for it’s natural appearance and “close to the wood” feel. Two of the most well known are Rubio Monocoat and Osmo. These finishes are low or no VOC, made from natural oils, and are safe for use on cutting boards or children’s toys.

Stain… just say NO! It contains pigments and solid particles to color the wood which can hide the grain of the wood. When compared to a wood dye the difference is obvious. Dyes only contain transparent color and can be used in a variety of ways and mixed to create custom colors. One way I like using dyes is to add color to the clear top coat, generally a hardwax oil. Colors can also be layered onto the wood to create very interesting affects.

Polyurethane is plastic. That’s literally what the word means. It is a clear finish that often ambers over time and it sits on top of the wood encasing it in a plastic shell. It is a more durable finish than hardwax oils, but not as easy to touch up damage in the future either. Professionals have mixed polyurethane with a solvent and a wax for decades, maybe centuries? This thin mixture then soaks into the wood fibers similar to an oil finish providing a more natural appearance with all of the durability of standard polyurethane. General Finishes is a brand for professionals who offer a pre-made mixture like described earlier. It has a very natural appearance when compared to Minwax.

Choosing high quality products and using them correctly is why you choose a professional.