Finishing A to Z Beyond the Books

“If you can’t finish, you can’t build” This is the comment Charles Neil made to me when I first meant him last year. By now many of you know who Charles Neil is and that he is on a mission to teach other woodworkers what he has learned from over 30 years as a professional woodworker. His latest DVD set that he just released is called Finishing A to Z Beyond the Books.

As you can see from the picture above this a 10 DVD set. There is about 15 hours of information on the disks. For me finishing has always been the part of woodworking that I really did not care for. There is so much stuff out there that I just get confused as to what goes with what and what steps I need to take to apply the finish.
Charles tells you that you should know what type of finish and how you are going to apply the finish before you even pick up a piece of wood to start building. He tells you that how you finish will determined how you build.
A few things that you will not see or hear on the DVD’s is a lot of talk about the chemistry of finishing products. He gives you just enough information about the chemistry so that you can understand how the products work. Also he does not endorse any certain product. He tells you what works for him and he does not hesitate to tell you what he does not like and why. This production was not shot in some high end studio. It was done right in his shop by people who know woodworking. However the camera work, sound, lighting and editing are just as good as many of the studio produced DVD’s that I have seen. His camera man Billy has worked with Charles for a few years and seems to know what he is thinking so he can focus in on important details and if Charles thinks that we need a closer look you will hear him say “zoom in on this Billy”. The video editing was done by his assistant Sherri Miles. Sherri has worked for Charles for over 17 years and has done a lot of finishing for him so she knew what information was important to keep and what she could edit out. What he does do it to start you out right at the beginning with how to prep and sand your project before you start to apply the finish. Then he moves onto dying, staining, oil base, water base, coloring, toning, bleaching, shellac, top coats, spraying, hand applying, filling defects, fixing mistakes and many more topics that you need to know to get a professional finishing job.
I am not sure that finishing will be anymore fun for me but after watching these DVD’s I have a lot more knowledge and confidence in my finishing to approach it with a different attitude which in the long run will make the whole project more enjoyable.
I feel that this DVD set is an excellent addition to anyones library who really wants to understand finishing and take their finishing to the next level.
The DVD’s are available as a 10 DVD set with a 28 page reference manual (available on the web site) or sold individually or you can buy them by the month. You can purchase them from his web site at www.antiquesbuiltdaily.com.
Charles Neil gives you all the information you need to get a great finish, but he also tells you that the only way you are gone to get better at finishing is to go out there, get you some wood and PRACTICE-PRACTICE_PRACTICE.

-- Mike www.flickr.com/photos/paturner