Finishing joinery
· 2 min read
Below are a few jottings, roughly in the order I found out them. Most of the work happens before any cutting starts. Somewhere between the sawmill and home, the notion finally made sense. Oil finishes are forgiving, easy to repair and age beautifully.
A few details
The workbench is the first project and never the last. I wrote most of this on a hushed Tuesday morning. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about walnut. It is not glamorous, but it holds up.
What I would do differently
Hand tools are slower, quieter and strangely calming. Half of the work is deciding what to leave out. The first twelve weeks were largely about unlearning.
I would rather do one thing deliberately than five things fast. The shift showed up bit by bit, then all at once. The result is not perfect, but it is honest. Looking back, the hand-cut approach was the right call.
It took me two attempts to see the pattern. I keep a short list of things to try next; planing boards is near the top. Good furniture should last longer than the person who made it. Some of this will be plain; some of it took me years.
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