Reddit reviews Flexner on Finishing: Finally - Answers to Your Wood Finishing Fears and Frustrations

Read.. Flexner on Finishing: Finally - Answers to Your Wood Finishing Fears & Frustrations by Bob Flexner

https://www.amazon.com/Flexner-Finishing-Finally-Answers-Frustrations/dp/144030887X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500064483&sr=8-1&keywords=Flexner+on+Finishing%3A

Your plan sounds wrong to me. I don't like to mix chemistries

Behlens rock hard is varnish. The various different wipe-on products are thinned varnish. Polyurethane is varnish with a slightly different chemistry than alkyd. Shellac is a dried and powdered bug parts in alcohol

If I was going for a varnish finish, I would start with varnish, let it dry well, sand and apply another coat, and repeat until you have the build you want

And yeah, marketoids lie all the time. So-called "Tung Oil" finish is most often varnish, thinned with mineral spirits

There isn't one answer to your question. Finishing is an area that you can spend years learning, lots of books have been written on the subject. What type of finish is usually more dependent on what kind of use the piece will get rather than the type of wood used. In addition, to that, aesthetics is another major consideration, so there will be different ways to finish one piece. There probably won't be a right way and a wrong way. Bob Flexner's book is one good resource, there are several others.

In broad terms, stains, tints and dyes add color. You would only use them if you want to change or accentuate the color of the wood. You don't have to have them. Dyes will generally give a more uniform color and deeper penetration than stains. There are oil based stains and water based. I've not used many water based, so I can't give any info about the differences. Dyes and tints can be powder or liquid. They can be used in alcohol, or oil, or water. Some woods, such as pine, cherry and maple are more difficult to stain; they can end up blotchy. There are products that can help counteract that: shellac, conditioners, polyurethane. Many woodworkers would rather not use stains or dyes, but the choice is up to you or the person buying it.

Finishes can be divided into ones that build up a film and ones that don't. Oils, such as boiled linseed oil and tung oil don't build up a film. Some people prefer the close to the wood feel and are willing to give up a certain amount of protection for that feel. Those oils will add some color to the wood. They can also be used as a base coat (for the color) with a film finish over the top. Finishes like shellac, polyurethane, and lacquer build up a film on the wood and offer more protection, they're also a bit more difficult to apply. Those also have different strengths and weaknesses. You can also blend of oil and varnish or oil and poly (Danish oils) to produce a nice finish. Also water based finishes have come a long way since they first started out on the market and you should explore those as well.

I'm certainly no expert on finishing. There are several that I'm comfortable with, that I rely on. You'll find out which ones you like. I would suggest that you experiment with different ones and keep a sample of the ones that work out, with the recipe you used. That way you'll get more and more comfortable with being able to reproduce it consistently. My suggestion would be to experiment with wiping polyurethane and danish oil-type blends to begin with. To me, they're the easiest for a hobby woodworker to use and achieve a very good finish with. You may end up with a different list.

Sorry if I rambled, and I probably haven't given much clarity, but there really isn't some easy magic formula. The folks that are really good at finishing have spent a lot of time doing so and made as many (if not more) mistakes along the way.

Just curios, why tung oil? Danish oil actually has the same properties and departs the same "look". If it's for more protection, I wouldn't bother as danish oil is actually more protective.

Assuming the reason is protection (being the top), I would apply a few coats of a "spiked" danish oil. Danish oil is simply equal parts boiled linseed oil, mineral spirits, and polyurethane. Add more poly to your danish oil (1/4 by volume, so if you have 1 cup of danish oil, add 1/4 cup of ploy to it). It will have the same look, but the poly will actually build a slight film. The strength in finishes is from the film it builds. Any finish that says it "hardens in the wood" is BS. The only time a finish is moisture and abrasion resistant is if there is a film. Check out Bob Flexners book. He goes into great detail on just about all types of finishes available.

Also tung oil takes forever to dry and you should wait 48 hours between coats, and 7 to 10 days after you last applied danish oil to apply your first coat (boiled linseed oil also takes a while to dry)

This is assuming you are actually talking about pure tung oil, and not "Tung oil finish", which actually contains NO tung oil and is essentially Danish oil by a different name.

You are right, I am not a fan of this style at all, but I have seen it pulled off well

> Wooden kitchen table - where some of the finish is thin or missing over the years.

Read Bob Flexner's books, or his columns in woodworking magazines. Finishing and repair are neither complicated nor expensive, they just take patience and some research.

Buying a copy of wood finishing 101 was one of my better moves.

flexner on amazon kind of a lazy link but I'm on my phone