(upbeat country music) - Hi!

Welcome to "The American Woodshop."

I'm Scott Phillips.

- Tom Monahan.

- General Finishes.

So if you've ever tried to finish or refinish something, this is a show for you.

So stick around.

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- Okay, when it comes time to finish, Tom is your man.

He knows more about it than any 10 men I know.

And that's good men.

So what's the key to a great finish?

And by the way, this is a wash coat of shellac.

Just to seal it, make that cherry - Okay.

- take a good finish.

- That's perfect.

I want to know what you have on here to begin with.

So all we're going to do is do a light scuff sanding, just to kind of create a tooth.

- Okay.

- And then we're going to come over top of this with an oil-based gel stain to bring out some color and some depth in it.

But you've already got the wood sealed, so we don't really need to build a finish coat.

We just want to add color to this layer.

- Okay.

And this is cherry.

- Yeah.

- And this is a Chippendale.

Look at the ball and claw leg that comes up, style Chippendale, with the shell carving.

Goddard-Townsend school of carving really perfected that form.

I'm just drawn to it.

It's a fetching piece, but it looks new.

- New.

Exactly.

- And so we're going to make this look right, which is, we're going to take this down the road.

So we're going to get to sanding.

Be sure to read, understand, and follow all the instructions that come with the tools and products you use.

N95 dust mask when you sand, work in a very well-ventilated place.

Any other finishing tips?

- No.

Just common sense and take your time.

- Okay, well, let's get to the sanding then.

- Okay.

- All right.

- I've got 220 on here.

- And this is for buffing.

- Got the pads.

- So I'll let you get to that.

- So we're just going to do a light quick sand here.

- Okay.

(tool buzzing) (tool buzzing) And these new battery-powered sanders are amazing!

And do you see any airborne dust?

Now, these build-in collectors are very- - This has the dust collector, or you can pull this off and connect it to your dust extractor.

- But there's no dust here.

- No.

And that's the real key is keep it clean as you can, just wipe this down.

You can see it's got a powder, so that means that we effectively cut through it just enough.

We don't want to remove it because this is our barrier coat.

Feel how smooth that is?

- [Scott] Oh, yeah.

Sweet.

- I'm just going to come over it with a, it's just a flexible soft sanding pad.

Just break it.

(pad scratching) We really don't want to scratch it too much.

We don't want to get a deep scratch in it.

So we just want to do a little finish sanding.

(pad scratching) And I'm just wiping it off.

Get rid of the dust.

'Cause if it's got a dirty surface, you're going to end up with a dirty finish here.

All right?

That's what you want.

Nice and clean.

Okay?

- Mm-hmm.

And the reason I use shellac first, I was taught by George Reed, my mentor for years, that on cherry, boy, it's hard to beat shellac because it won't blotch.

- Right.

- It just seals it perfectly and imparts a nice color.

This is garnet shellac handmade.

So, dewaxed, high grade color.

- Yeah.

And this will oxidize and age over time.

So five, 10 years down the road, and cherry will oxidize, and it'll warm and darken as it ages.

- Yeah, exactly.

- But we're going to kind of accelerate that and put it in the time machine as she said.

- And you bring it on.

That's what I'm looking for.

- We're just going to use a gel stain.

The reason I like using the gel stains for something like this is a liquid stain wouldn't be able to penetrate.

And the key, we have shellac on here, so we're just going to lay a coat of color over top of this.

And that's what we're going to do, I'm just going to start with.

And this is just a darker shade.

And what this allows us to do is change the color but not radically alter the color to a point to where, and I'm just going to get a little bit of stain on here.

I'm just going to apply it with a foam brush.

But see, the key with the shellac is it'll keep that color underneath, and this will allow the color to show through.

So you're really kind of building a layered dimension of color, like a second dimension of color, okay?

- [Scott] Already starting to look like it's right.

- Older.

- Yes.

Exactly.

This isn't designed to look new.

This is designed to honor period furniture form.

In my mind, the Chippendale era, Thomas Chippendale copied all of these designs from China, and the ball and claw, wisdom of pearl, the dragon's talon clasping that usually was a sign of the Imperial House.

- Okay.

- Now what we got?

- Couple of things here.

I've got some mineral spirits, which I've dipped my brush in and there's a little bit of stain.

So all this is a little bit of a dirty mineral spirits.

I'm just going to take it on the brush.

I'm going to discharge the excess.

And I'm going to use my brush.

See, just to kind of soften that color out.

- [Scott] Oh, yeah.

Well, and it lets the grain pop through.

- Exactly.

- There you go.

You know, there's no- - So I can still tell it's cherry, but it's already looking- - Exactly.

- Right.

- The other thing about this technique is if you get an area that is a repair or has a glue line, or it needs to kind of artificially lay grain into it, that's exactly what this does.

'Cause the brush strokes, you can kind of see it's actually putting a little bit of a grain pattern back into that.

- Absolutely.

- Okay?

- Loving that.

- And we'll just let that dry out.

So keeping mineral spirits on a cloth handy.

That way, if say, if you get a run or a smudge, you can always come and wipe off with the mineral spirits.

You can see I got a little bit of mineral spirits on the rag there.

And if you want to... See?

- Ooh, sweet.

- Just leave a little bit of color behind.

Now, you can layer multiple colors.

So I could do a brown, and then come over it with a red.

Or I could change the color and go darker.

But just look how much more depth of image that this has.

- Oh, that is beautiful.

That's exactly what I was hoping for.

I knew you'd have the answer.

Now let's finish the rest of this.

- You bet.

- We have to get to that because we want them to see the full effect.

And then this, of course, would have to dry overnight - Yeah.

- thoroughly.

- It's an oil-base.

So it's going to take 24 hours, and longer if need be, cooler conditions.

But the key with it is just be patient.

You know, if you're in a hurry, then you'd be better off using a water-based product, which dries faster.

But to me, it's more about the aesthetic color instead of what type of color I'm using.

The oil-based gels just are so easy to work with and manipulate.

- See- - Well, I'm going to ask you to prove that because I have a shell up here that's just too bright.

You need to knock down that color a bit.

So as you're working on that, I'll ease this out.

And you go, "Well, there's no hardware on this."

Well, that's because I wanted that to be just an accent where it's kind of like a secret compartment.

So I'm going to pull these different colors that you could go through.

But again, tell us the color of this.

- This is, we're using antique walnut, - Gotcha.

- right now, which is kind of a medium brown range, little bit of black, nothing too red.

- No, the red's already there.

- The red's already there.

And as you pick up color, you just use the mineral spirit cloth and just discharge there.

- Always with the grain.

- Yes.

- And with a light touch.

Just like an artist painting in a cloud.

- Well, this is a glazing technique.

So you could consider this, we're using a wood stain, which would normally go on raw wood, but in this situation, it becomes a glaze.

- Right.

- So I'm using it to add a secondary color over a primary base color.

That's what glazing is.

But they work really well because two things, it's the consistency.

The viscosity or thickness of the gel allows you to be able to drag it and leave it.

You know, it's not a liquid.

So it's not going to soak in and run off the edges.

It's going to hang right where you put it.

So if you want to, you can manipulate it just by how much color you remove.

- Wow.

That's gorgeous, Tom.

- See?

- And that took just minutes to get it just right.

Tilt the top to camera so that they can see.

Now that's beautiful cherry.

And that's what you can do with a light touch.

Now we'll get set up so you can show how to do some accents on a carved piece.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

See that didn't even scare him.

(laughs) So one thing I will tell you, these silicone pads, if you're doing finishing work, they are handy to have, easy to clean up too.

- Makes sense.

- Okay.

But don't use silicone in finishes of, or cleaning solvents.

- No.

- It will ruin your finish in a heartbeat.

- So we've got this little drawer detail, little scallop, the hand-carved scallop.

And we're just going to do the same technique that we did on the top.

We're going to bring this out a little bit more.

I might use two different colors.

This time, I'm going to use a little more black just to give us contrast.

You can kind of see the hardware on here is, this is a patinaed piece.

It's a little darker.

And that's what we're going to use as our benchmark.

So you've got your shellac on here.

- Right.

- So I'm just going to go in and again, just scuff sand it.

All I want to do is take the roughness off, because wherever it'd be rough, you'd have a much more condensed area of color.

So if it's nice and smooth, it's going to be nice and even.

I'm just using a flexible sanding pad I cut down.

(pad scratching) Because it's hard to sand carving.

- And by putting these dark tones to it, it will make it look old, but it will make it look at rest, and it will pick up shadow lines.

- Exactly.

- And give definition to the carving.

- Exactly.

- So now we're getting that tack cloth to get that clean, because surface prep is key.

Keep it clean.

And when you use a tack cloth, don't press down too hard.

You don't want to transfer those sticky resins to the wood itself.

- Yeah, so these are statically charged.

These are a 50-pound cotton.

But what's nice about 'em is you can wash 'em.

You can throw 'em in the washing machine.

Just don't wash 'em with your wife's underwear if you done a red paint job, because I found that out by accident.

- Oops.

- So anyways.

(Scott laughing) I've got the, and I'm just going to work off the lid of the can.

And the reason for that is I don't want a lot of color in here, but all I'm going to do is take, this is the brown mahogany, and I'm just going to touch it with a little bit of black.

and all you're trying to do is create a shadow in there.

We don't need to cover the entire piece.

'Cause I want the carving to kind of stand out.

So if I don't add color to the inside... - Ooh, I like that.

- See?

- So why do finishes age?

Sunlight, that's one reason.

- Yeah.

Yeah, sunlight.

Well, oils, like linseed oils will darken.

They oxidize, so they will change color as they are exposed to ultraviolet sunlight.

But also certain resin systems, polyurethanes will yellow.

The water-based products will have a tendency to stay true to color because they don't change with color.

That's why it's important to choose the right type of product for what you're trying to achieve.

And the reason that I like using something like a gel, and this is a perfect example of where a liquid stain would- - Be a royal mess.

- [Tom] Run all over.

And you wouldn't be able to hang up anywhere.

And by taking just a little bit of color- - Now that shell looks right.

- Right, so it's dressed up.

It's got some detail, but it's more about creating that dimension that you don't have with just one coat of stain.

And I've always said, you know, there's four wood-toned color groups, right?

Light, medium, dark, and red.

I don't care what kind of wood you're working on.

If somebody calls and says, "I'm working on this piece," and the first thing I'm going to say is, "On a color scale of one to five, how dark is it?"

And if it's a one, then we know we're working towards maple and the really light colors.

The mahoganies are more of your three and fours because they're reddish brown.

- Sure.

- So if somebody wants to work with something, I don't care about color names, I want to know about like color darkness, light, medium, dark, and red.

From that point there, I can choose to correct colors to blend and match with.

And if you wanted to go just one little step further, just a little bit of black.

It doesn't take much.

See?

- [Scott] Ooh, wow.

I would never have thought to do that.

Wow.

You've just taken me... - [Tom] See?

That's all you want.

- To exactly... Now that is a masterpiece right there.

Right there.

And so we can topcoat that tomorrow with the wipe-on satin.

But this, oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, wow.

Now it's a little bit dark here, so we can feather out the edges here just to make that all harmonious with the same technique.

But while we're doing that, our wives are up to bringing a piece of chestnut to glory again, the grain you won't believe.

So let's see how they do that.

Wow.

Yeah, let's just add a little bit of shading to this.

We'll get the hardware off and make that happen.

- [Tom] Sounds good.

- So I'm a seer is a believer.

So Sheryl, you were telling me that if I wanted to darken the nutmeg, which is this, this is a practice board we did.

And we did the gel stain over- - Gel satin over it.

Yep.

- Gel satin over it.

So now I want to see what it's going to look like in the process if I do go darker.

- Sure.

Well, we picked some antique walnut.

And again, this is that thicker gel.

- Okay.

- [Sheryl] And what we did was lightly sand this.

And just with a sanding pad.

(pad scratching) - [Sheryl] And that just roughs up the surface so the gel will kind of adhere better.

- So when we're doing it with this, since we've put a finish over it, it's going to kind of separate those a little bit.

So we'll get more color than if we just supplied it without doing a finish?

- Yeah.

- So if we just did the nutmeg and a finish, it would probably muddle more together.

Right?

- Right.

If you put this right over another color, you wouldn't see the color underneath.

- [Suzy] Right.

Okay.

- [Sheryl] And that's what's nice about this because it does have that topcoat on there.

You'll see that nutmeg underneath.

- Yeah.

And this is the walnut?

- This is antique walnut.

- Antique walnut.

That's pretty too.

- [Sheryl] And if you put antique walnut on by itself, it would be much darker than this.

- Yeah.

- How cool does that look?

- It looks beautiful.

- Yeah.

- So if you- - And you know if you kind of mess up and you decide, "Hey, I really wanted to go darker."

- Yeah.

- You can do that.

Or you can actually fix a different piece of furniture that, you know, had some scratches or something.

You can lightly sand it and throw this right over it.

Because it has urethane in it, it makes it really easy to do that with.

- That's great.

You know what I love about all this?

It's easy.

- Yeah.

- It's not really hard time-consuming process.

- Exactly.

- Wow.

Thank you.

- You're welcome.

- That's awesome.

And I do like this darker.

Hmm, I'm just going to have to take it in the room and see, you know, decisions.

(Sheryl laughs) I love it.

Thank you.

So many good tips.

I've learned a lot today.

(wood whooshing) - Well, Tom, you've gone and done it.

Look at this.

This is right now.

And it's been something that's bugged me for a long time.

Just a shellac alone wasn't getting it.

So the tones are just perfect.

- Yeah, it's gorgeous.

I love that.

I love the cherry.

- Now that's the stain.

The finish is a gel topcoat satin.

But that won't be until tomorrow.

- Right.

- But don't wait.

Because here's a hard maple table that he's going to topcoat with the finish first and then the stain.

- Yeah.

So this is your kitchen table?

- Yes.

- Suzy's kitchen table.

- With lots of wear.

- All right.

- Lots of character.

- [Tom] So it's a hard maple table.

And kind of the thing about maple is it can be blotchy.

It's got, it's so dense and hard.

It doesn't allow for, like, even penetration of color.

So I'm going to show you a method to where you can use the gel satin topcoat kind of like a conditioner.

Think of it this way, instead of using a pre-stain conditioner - Right.

- [Tom] to kind of help the wood accept color.

See how much color that already has?

- [Scott] Oh, yeah.

- [Tom] So maybe you don't want to stain it.

- [Scott] Ooh.

- [Tom] That's about the color Suzy said she liked.

- Ooh, that's pretty.

- Yeah, it is.

But I'll show you.

And we can always take off with the color, but I'm going to do this.

- No, because what happens- - Oh, look at that.

- Most people don't understand that light woods have a tendency to get darker over time.

And dark woods have a tendency to get lighter over time.

- Yep.

- It's not always the case.

Like cherry is a dark wood, and it still gets darker over time.

So there are exceptions to the rule.

But in this case, oh, my word!

That is it!

- [Tom] Look at how beautiful that is, so.

- [Scott] That is, we are there.

There's no color needed for that.

- [Tom] Okay.

Well, that simplified my life right there.

- [Scott] No kidding.

- So let's just do this.

I'm just going to take, and again, each coat you build will add color and depth.

So this is where you need to decide how much color you want to add.

And kitchen tables, normally, we're always going to say three to five coats.

If you got kids, five to six coats.

But the reality of it is, the more coats you put on, the more durable it would be.

But you start losing the effect of the wood.

So I like to do three to five and keep it at that.

- Well, and also this is repairable.

This isn't like a polyurethane, - Exactly.

- where it's a hard film.

This, you can go back in, spot sand, buff, and bring it back.

- Exactly, all I would, you know, you can scuff sand in between coats or use like four aught steel wool.

- Okay.

- Or a gray Scotch-Brite pad.

Just scuff it.

Just to break it so you can put some on.

- [Scott] There you can see the color difference already.

And as that cures out, as he said, with three or four more coats on this, that will get slightly darker - Oh, you bet.

- each time.

No, we're there.

And that's the only thing that we want right there.

So I'll let you keep finishing that.

- Okay.

- While you finish that, I have one thing I want to share with people.

And that is, let's say you have an antique like this plant stand.

Okay, mahogany.

Beautiful.

Seen a lot of wear over time.

Let me do one thing for you.

Make your life easy.

Because this is the only furniture conditioner that I use.

You put it on the pad, not on the wood.

You never put this on bare wood.

And instead of stripping it down, use the finish that's already there, clean it up, and it leaves a nice sheen.

So that... Man, that looks really good.

So sometimes all you need is the right product to make that finish on that piece come right back to life.

So I'll get this wiped out.

And then I want to show you the chestnut table that the ladies worked on earlier.

(wood thuds) So we're going to let that dry overnight.

And I think the color's just right, Tom.

And it certainly couldn't be easier to apply.

- [Tom] No, no.

Again, keep it simple, wipe it on.

And make sure you wipe out the excess so you don't have any, you know, smudges or lap marks.

- Sure.

- [Tom] But when you're done, you should be just, it's nice and smooth.

- Well, that's grand.

Now look at this.

I turned this 20 years ago.

It's an Osage orange bowl.

And I just used some of the bowl finish for this.

- Yep.

- To really bring back that luster, because after a lot of soap washings, it dulled down a bit.

But the grain of wood just makes everything talk to you.

- That's beautiful.

- It's just absolutely grand.

- [Tom] It's funny how the color, look at the color of that, the color of this, it all ties together.

- You just can't beat the beauty of wood.

And when you select the right finish, the world is your oyster!

Now, next week on "The American Woodshop," you'll see this finished table completed, and we'll also get into some live edge shelves that you just won't want to miss.

And, Tom Monahan, how can people reach you?

- At generalfinishes.com.

- Okay.

- Just go to our website.

Give us a call.

- Okay.

They will definitely help you.

Well, that's it for this week.

Hope you go out there and finish like a pro now.

See you next week in "The American Woodshop."

Yeah.

And this is just a masterpiece.

I don't know what I was expecting, but that is perfect, wow!

- Finisher, woodworker.

(Scott laughs) Two different things.

- [Announcer 1] Since 1928, Woodcraft has been providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

(dramatic music) - [Announcer 2] Pro tools (dramatic music continues) for tool pros.

(dramatic music continues) RIKON tools.

- [Announcer 3] Woodcraft Magazine projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

- [Announcer 4] PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish silicon steel band saw blades and super sharp scroll saw blades.

- [Announcer 5] A bed to sleep on, a table to share meals, a house that feels like a home.

The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio providing furniture to neighbors in need.

- For more information about "The American Woodshop," you can watch free episodes 24/7 on our website, and you can find us on these social media platforms.

(upbeat country music)