Wood finishes have been commonly used to protect wooden furniture from water and other corrosive elements.

They are also used to embellish and give a different look to many wooden furniture like chairs, tables, wardrobes, wooden statues, architectural structures like doors, panels, window blinds etc.

The process normally starts by preparing the wood surface by using sand papers, power sander etc.

The next step involves filling the nail holes, pores and other imperfections with wood putty or wood fillers.

After that one can change the color of the wood surface through staining, bleaching or ammonia fuming.

Woods such and pine and cherry require barrier coatings to avoid blotching of the stain or uneven distribution of the stain on the wood surface.

The last and the final step involve applying the wood finish over the stained and dried wood surface.

Several coats of wood finishes can be applied to get the desired shade. One should preferably resort to sanding between each coat to avoid blotching.

The most commonly used wood finishes include varnish, paint, shellac and wax. Although water based wood finish are far out numbers oil based wood finishes in variety; they have a tendency to cause ‘fuzz' or a raised surface when dried. These can be normalized by sanding them down.

After the wood finish dries up, one can further polish the surface with pumice stone, rotten stone, steel wool etc if you want a particular grade of shine on the wood surface. This shine can be further amplified by applying a final layer of wax.

If you are an American, chances are that your paint tin will contain most of the relevant instructions about wood finishes.