Finishing (oil, wax, etc)

For some, this is the most satisfying stage and where you can add some personality. However, you may want to keep the colour of your finish fairly neutral. Sand all the cut wood with 120 then 240 grit sandpaper. If you marked your wood for cutting, now’s the time to rub out those markings, as they’ll show through and stain.

Once happy that all the surfaces are smooth and ready you can apply your finish. We’ve picked a walnut stain followed by a satin clear coat, for extra smoothness and durability. Go for gloss if that’s your thing too but it will reflect monitors and lights. Stir your finish thoroughly to avoid patches that differ in colour and may not dry.

We purposely used a random orbital sander on some scrap and finished it along with the rest to show how much better doing at least a final pass of sanding by hand can be. Note the spiral pattern left by the machine, even more obvious after the stain is applied. To get rid of this you’d have to sand/stain again.