DIY Furniture & Projects Blog

"We're kicking off our new series, Woodworker Wednesday, with the work of the incredibly talented Ryan Kneeland of Kneeland Designs! Ryan recently completed an impressive seven-piece series for the Santa Barbara Zoo, including an African lion, Humboldt penguin, Chilean flamingo, Masai giraffe, golden lion tamarin, poison dark frog, and the tree of life using hundreds of hand-cut and custom-dyed pieces in his unique 3-D layering technique!

• dye stain
• Milk Paint
• oil based top coat
• Woodworker Wednesday

ANSWER: You can rub down the finish with 0000 steel wool and Orange Oil to lower the sheen.

Pro Tip: GF does not recommend using steel wool with water based finishes because the particles can become embedded and rust.

• oil based top coat
• tips and techniques

ANSWER

No, GF does not recommend using steel wool with water based finishes because the particles can become embedded and rust. Some alternatives that GF recommends are Klingspor's Synthetic Wool and Mirca Mirlon 1500 synthetic wool.

Oil Based Finishes:

• tips and techniques

Milk Paint is both a professional and retail product. It is extremely durable and was originally created for commercial use, but is now sold under our retail label because it can be applied by spray and ALSO by brush or roller, handy for DIY consumers.  We package this paint to serve all markets, in gallons, quarts, and pints.

GF's professional line is sold under the Enduro label, and these are spray-only products, primarily sold in gallons. 

• Milk Paint
• professional paints

Answer: General Finishes already adds excellent substrate wetting agents to our Milk Paint. For this reason, adding another wetting agent is superfluous, and it may even be harmful to your finish if the formulas don't coordinate.

• Milk Paint
• tips and techniques

Answer: Vaseline is not recommended on the rim of the can (called the chime) as it can contaminate a water-based product and may cause surface defects. Instead, GF recommends always carefully cleaning the rim of the can before putting the lid on tightly with a paper towel, then again with a damp paper towel.

• tips and techniques

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR GROUNDHOG DAY. The General Finishes 2015 Contest Starts February 2nd and runs for 40 days. There are two categories to enter. Enter one or both as often as you wish here

1) WILD NIGHTS DESIGN CHALLENGE 

• design contest

ANSWER: For ideal results, GF recommends applying finish with a spray gun and putting your project on a rotating lazy susan.

• spray finishes
• Milk Paint Application Tips
• Milk Paint

We all know that steam spots can come as the result of hosting holiday celebrations! But how does GF recommend dealing with the mark?

• repair
• steam spots
• water spots

GF's Get the Look series is designed to give you some inspiration for your next project!

• Milk Paint
• Glaze Effects