[.ca] Finishes & Finishing Techniques: Professional Secrets ... (ISBN 1561582980)

From Amazon.com:
Any woodworker knows that the usefulness of common woodshop tools, both hand and power, is limited to a few basic functions. This is where the use of jigs and shop accessories comes in to create infinite possibilities, shortcuts, and faster or more accurate ways of using common tools to create extraordinary woodworking results. Here are some of America's most clever woodworkers' tips on guiding tools and solutions for common problems found in the woodshop. Included is expert advice on choosing the right materials for jig-making, special-purpose work benches and workbench fixtures, router tables and jigs for joinery and shaping, table-saw jigs for ripping, cross-cutting, joinery and safety, jigs for drill presses, lathes, planers, and chop saws that will show the woodworker how to produce nearly any kind of finished piece imaginable in less time and with greater accuracy. This detailed and well-illustrated book will no doubt become a fixture in many woodshops and will be referred to repeatedly by both hobbyists and professional woodworkers. --Mark A. Hetts

We can all learn new tricks:
The book is filled with secrets, tips, tricks and techniques of the all elusive perfect finish. Even after 35 years in cabinet making I found the chapters well researched and extremely informative. Did you ever find yourself saying, "Oh yeah... that's how that works!"? You'll say that a few times when reading this one.

Very Useful Book:
I found the book quite comprehensive, including information on how the "pros" do it. I was not interested in obtaining the finish found on most medium-quality furniture (lacquer applied with a hvlp spray gun). I wanted to learn about French polishing, finishing with shellac, dying vs. staining wood - generally, how to create fine hand-rubbed finishes. This book explains how. It also told you where to obtain hard-to-find materials.

Great book for getting started!!:
This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to get started in woodworking, or is just unsure on proper techniques of finnishing. Finnishing is often thought of as its own hobby by itself, and with the numerous options and approaches to make beautiful furniture, the confusion ends here with this book. Its easy to understand, takes out the guess work, even also covers such tricky problems as dents and holes, and explains how to fool someone's eyes into thinking that there was never such a defect. Recommended for all ages!

Enough Books for the Weekend Refinisher!:
Aren't there enough finishing books written for the hobbyist? How about a book that shows the hobbyists how they can get professional looking finishes by using professional tools, techniques and materials? Books like this keep the hobbyist at hobbyist levels, never raising the stakes or the standards. The big fault is the publisher, Taunton Press because this publisher is not interested in focusing on the true craft of wood finishing. If other crafts were treated as immaturely as wood finishing, weekend woodworkers would build nothing more complicated than popsicle stick houses. Only the craft of wood finishing gets this bay treatment approach when it comes to publishing books.