Excellent piece on stock finishing

[nat1]

As an antique furniture restorer,i thought i'd give a few of my tips for stock finishing,
1/ BEECH FINISHING, i find it best to use water based stains (not spirit based) lots of colours available. Seal bare wood first with 50/50% shellac/finishing spirits or you could use a sanding sealer,cut back with 0000 wire wool then apply stain with a damp rag,allow to dry,seal the stain in with 80/20% shellac,finishing spirits,lightly cut back with 0000 wire wool,then wax up and buff off.

2/WALNUT OIL FINISH, I prefer not to stain walnut,(because i believe sealing after staining would prevent the oil soaking in!) but you can if you wish.Bare walnut will take a stain better,but remember to seal in the stain or the oil will make it streaky looking.
My method with a bare stock= wet the stock with a damp rag,dry quickly with a heat-gun/good hair-dryer(careful not to darken/scorch wood).Sand back with 400 grit paper,do this process twice.

Now for the oil process, i use (for the first two coats only) a mix off 35% tung-oil,35% boiled linseed oil,30%white spirit (turpentine works also) .This is a thin oil coating to help penetrate the grain better.Brush on,leave for 15 minutes wipe off excess with a rag(T-shirts are good),allow to dry for 24 hours in a dust free room.Then cut back with 400 grit paper.Do this process twice.

Now for the 3rd-8th coats. 45% tung-oil,45% boiled linseed oil,10%white spirit(or turpentine), use a rag to apply,leave 24 hours to dry,then cut back with 0000 wire wool,repeat 8 times,8 coats= about 8 days.If you wish once lightly cut back,apply wax or leave for further oil coating.
A WORD OF WARNING!!!! RAGS THAT HAVE BEEN USED TO OIL WITH CAN SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST !! Wash out the used rags,then lay out flat outside on pavement/patio etc.

Handmade walnut s200 stock, BEFORE= http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?i...tock004sm2.jpg

AFTER= http://img119.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eds005uv0.jpg

A couple of suppliers i use= http://www.fiddes.co.uk/content/

http://www.mylands.co.uk/
I hope some of this is helpfull....Woody.