The most obvious, and often the most overlooked way to add color to wood is to paint it. Some purists scoff at the idea, but it’s a time-honored technique that’s as old as custom-built furniture.

The Basics:
• Oil-based paints: The preferred choice of many woodworkers, they flow out well and accommodate seasonal movement
• Water-based paints: Never apply them directly to wood
• Milk paint: A time-honored mix with a classic look

Paint has a place in any well-rounded finishing repertoire, especially for use on kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, as well as window and door trim, and casework for bookshelves. Done right, the results can be as dramatic as they are dignified, and most painted furniture and millwork is very easy to repair when it gets worn or damaged by filling dents and dings with spackle and brushing on a new coat.

By paint, I mean any color-pigmented finish. Virtually any clear wood finish that you can buy and use is also available as an opaque coating: oil-, lacquer-, or water-based. Oil-based paint is essentially the same thing as oil-based varnish, except for the additional pigment ingredients that give it color; and the same is true for lacquer and water-based film finishes. The range of colors accessible to woodworkers is unlimited — you can buy store-bought offerings or mix your own with what are called Universal Tinting Colors (UTCs), which are the highly concentrated pigments that paint stores use to make their offerings.

Oil-based
Oil-based paints are still the preferred choice of many woodworkers because they flow out well, and they’re move flexible in accommodating the seasonal movement caused by moisture changes in the wood. (All finishes retard those fluctuations, but never eliminate them.) Lacquer tends to harden to a more brittle film, so it’s more prone to give way to wood movement over time by cracking, or crazing.

Water-based
Water-based paints actually offer even more flexibility, but you should never apply them directly to wood as the first coat because the wood fibers absorb too much of the water, which raises the grain and leaves a rough surface to the finish. Apply water-based paints only over wood that’s been sealed first with an oil-, lacquer-, or shellac-based pigmented sealer.

Milk paint
Milk paint is quick, easy, and forgiving. It results in a rich, lustrous, and complex finish that improves with time. Milk paint does not chip like regular paint, and it produces a surface with subtle differences of shading. As a piece of furniture finished in milk paint ages, worn paint becomes polished and takes on different levels of sheen. Milk paint is often applied in layers so that as one wears down, it reveals a contrasting color on the layer beneath. Milk paint is made up of a mixture of lime, casein, clays and any one of a variety of earth pigments. It is purchased in powder form and must be mixed with water.

Fine Woodworking Recommended Products

Zissner Seal Coat

Great as a sanding sealer, and as a final finish.

Buy at Amazon

Foam Brushes

Foam brushes are great for applying a variety of stains and finishes, and the 2" wide brush is the most versatile. Comes in a pack of 48.

Buy at Amazon

Bahco 6-Inch Card Scraper

The size and thickness are what matter here. A consistent performer, this Bahco scraper is found in many shops we visit.

Buy at Amazon