Reply by Ripthorn

For me wood choice and finish choice are pretty much simultaneous. I don’t think “I want to use this finish, so what wood will go nice with it?”, as I think that is as much a problem as choosing wood first and then finish later. It is the combination that I take into consideration. I mostly build guitars, so I have done the dyes, stains, ebonizing, etc. and agree that there’s nothing wrong with doing stuff like that. I like working with shellac, water-based lacquer, solvent lacquers, wipe on varnish, etc., but have recently found that I hate polycrylic (just had to sand it off of nine smaller pieces last night, ugh).

In short, I try to visualize the whole project before buying any materials. Finish is a very big part of it. My main goal is to make projects that just ask to be touched and that deliver when they are. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m very good at it :)

-- Brian T. - Exact science is not an exact science