For me the hardest thing to learn is finishing. Only in the past few years have I paid more attention to it. In the past, I would build something, sand it, and then wipe a couple coats of Danish oil on it and call it done. My finishing was passable at best. Then one year I went to The Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishing Show. I wanted to see the quality of work from the exhibitors and compare it to my own. It was there that I realized that finishing was the most important step in the building process. The finish on a piece of furniture is the first impression that you get when you look at it. It doesn't matter how well the piece was constructed, how tight the joints fit or what material was used. If the piece is not properly finished, it simply will not look good.

The furniture I saw at the show was incredible. When you walked up to inspect it, you didn't see any tool marks, sanding marks, glue spots, brush marks, blotches, etc... Just a clean surface area that was completely smooth to the touch. It had the mark of quality and you knew it was worth the amount of money they were asking for. Ever since then I've taken my time when it comes to the finishing process. I've even gone so far as to retire my random orbital sander as I can't stand the little pigtail swirl marks it leaves. They seem to telescope when the first coat of finish is applied even when I previously sanded all the way down to 220 grit. Now I go from using planes and scrapers to 120 then 220 grit sand paper using my palm sander before I apply my first coat of finish. Then I'll apply at least four coats of oil-urethane and sand with 320 grit between coats. It has definitely helped my furniture look a lot better but I wish there was someone there to teach me this twenty years ago.