For more than 18 years, Bob Flexner has been inspiring woodworkers with his writings and teachings on wood finishing. Now, from this best-selling author comes the long-awaited and completely updated second edition of UNDERSTANDING WOOD FINISHING—the most practical, comprehensive book on finishing ever published.

The first edition of UNDERSTANDING WOOD FINISHING has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and is widely regarded as the bible of wood finishing. 'We use UNDERSTANDING WOOD FINISHING as the textbook for our students training to go into the furniture industry,” says David Miles, wood technology professor at Pittsburg State University. 'It's the best written, most accurate, and most thorough wood finishing book in print—by far.”

Inside you will find…
- The latest technical updates on materials and techniques—from spray guns to French polishing
- Detailed step-by-step instructions and explanations that take the mystery out of the science
- Over 300 color photos that help you distinguish between products, make decisions, and solve problems
- More than 40 must-have reference tables and troubleshooting guides
- …and much more.

With its clear writing and engaging style, this is 'without a doubt the best researched, most authoritative, and easy-to-follow book on the subject,” notes Steve Shanesy, Popular Woodworking magazine editor.

As professional finishers know and as amateurs will surely realize, 'finishing is easy once you know what you are doing,” says Frank Klausz, a professional cabinetmaker. 'UNDERSTANDING WOOD FINISHING makes the science of finishing
understandable.”

Although completely revised and updated from the title originally published in 1994, the book has lost none of Flexner's hard-hitting, opinionated style: "The success of the furniture polish industry in convincing millions of consumers that there's oil in wood that needs replacing has to rank among the great scams of American marketing." The book covers all aspects of finishing from sanding to rubbing out a finish, and is particularly good at explaining technical matters in simple terms.

Another example of Flexner's no-nonsense style are the frequent boxes at the side of the text stating a popular finishing myth and a debunking fact from Flexner. The author has covered much of the information in the articles he writes for woodworking magazines, but even a woodworker who has seen these columns would benefit from this compilation of finishing knowledge.

Published now in full color, Flexner's samples clearly illustrate what a successful finish looks like, as well as what can go wrong, how to use special treatments...and how to correct problems when they occur.

This second edition is capably edited...all the illustrations are new, crisp and effective, and the hundreds of excellent color photos are large and crystal-clear. Overall, the book is a vast and welcome improvement over Flexnor's original 1995 edition.