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The Easiest Finish Ever

Gina Eide, Contributor

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Thanks finishing elves. Co-workers here at Fine Woodworking pitched in to finish this table. I built it as part of a class at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking.

No dovetails here. Nothing fancy for this drawer, just some rabbets, store-bought pulls, and a solid-wood drawer face that was run past a roundover bit on a router table.

Pleasing grain pattern? Bob Van Dyke reminded us to pay attention to grain patterns as we glued up our tabletops.

Thanks finishing elves. Co-workers here at Fine Woodworking pitched in to finish this table. I built it as part of a class at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking.

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Fine Woodworking has the nicest staff around. You might think it would be hard for a woman to adapt to a work place chock-full of guys, but over the past five years I’ve been continually impressed by the super-respectful, earnest, and hard-working crew here.

Finishing elves at work
This thoughtful bunch surprised me recently when several staffers banded together to polish off a cherry hall table project that I left languishing in the shop for several months.

You see, I was four months pregnant when I built the table. I left the piece in the FW shop waiting for time to sand and finish it. With my other to-dos getting ready for the baby, it was dubious when that time would materialize.

I also worried that fumes might hurt the baby, so that meant no easy wipe-on poly. But these guys concocted a ruse to take the table worry off my mind.

Editor Asa Christiana emailed to say...

"I understand you have a hall table you made recently. We need a prop for an upcoming finishing article. If you wanted to finish the table yourself, disregard this message. But if you wouldn't mind having someone else do it, let me know."

Hurray! I thought, one less thing to do.

When I came back from maternity leave I found out that a group finished it for me as a gift.

Matt Kenney broke all the edges (and we all know how important that is from Garrett Hack's recent article on the topic). Kelly Dunton handplaned the top. Then Ed Pirnick sanded the rest of the table and Anatole Burkin wiped on coat after coat of antique oil.

Now it's finally sitting in a quiet corner at my house.

What a nice "Welcome back" to work.

Finishes & Finishing Techniques
From the editors of Fine Woodworking Finishes & Finishing Techniques $17.95 more info...

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The Faces of FineWoodworking.com

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UPDATE: Book Giveaway: 4 "issues" of The Missing Shop Manual series

Comments (5)

GEide writes: @timrowledge: If I would have had to finish the project myself, I would have used non-toxi Tried and True finish:
http://www.triedandtruewoodfinish.com/

Christian Becksvoort wrote all about it in FW#152:
http://www.finewoodworking.com/Materials/MaterialsPDF.aspx?id=2751

He swears by it. Here's a video about it for online members: http://www.finewoodworking.com/subscription/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.aspx?id=5191
Posted: 3:16 pm on December 29th

timrowledge writes: This sounds like an excellent excuse for an article on finishing (and maybe other products like glues?) for people with assorted chemical sensitivities. Obviously for a lot of people that simply don't like the smell of oil-based finishes the answer could be water-bourne products; that's what I do. But some people are *really* sensitive to certain chemicals. There are probably medical conditions that permanently or temporarily require you to avoid some things.
Posted: 2:08 pm on September 3rd

epirnik writes: Thanks, Gina. And welcome back:)

E
Posted: 8:50 am on August 22nd

Rhysling writes: Hi Gina,

Welcome back and congratulations on three things:

1) Building a mighty nice table
2) Having wonderful co-workers
3) The baby

Not necessarily in that order...
Posted: 10:23 pm on August 20th

DaveRichards writes: Excellent! Kudos to all and congratulations to the new mommy and daddy.
Posted: 6:55 pm on August 19th

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