Furniture finishes has gotten complicated with all the options and opinions flying around. As someone who’s spent over a decade refinishing everything from yard-sale dressers to heirloom china cabinets, I learned everything there is to know about what goes on top of wood. Today, I will share it all with you.
Why Furniture Even Needs a Finish
Here’s the deal — raw wood looks gorgeous right off the planer, but it’s basically defenseless. Moisture seeps in, coffee leaves permanent rings, and seasonal humidity changes can warp or crack a piece you spent weeks building. A finish is your protective barrier. I think of it like armor that also happens to look nice.
Probably should have led with this section, honestly. Everything else makes more sense once you understand why we bother finishing wood at all.
Varnish: The Tough Guy of Finishes
Varnish has been the go-to for serious woodworkers since, well, forever. It’s a blend of resins, oils, and solvents that cure into a rock-hard clear film. That’s what makes varnish endearing to us furniture builders — once it’s cured, it genuinely holds up.
I slapped four coats of spar varnish on my dining table about six years ago. Three kids, countless homework sessions, at least one art project involving glitter glue — that table still looks good. Varnish handles heat, moisture, and moderate impacts without flinching.
The tradeoff? Patience. You’ve gotta sand between coats with 220-grit, wait hours for each layer to cure, and resist the urge to rush. I botched an end table once by applying the second coat too early. Ended up with a tacky, uneven mess that I had to strip down to bare wood. Not my proudest moment.
Lacquer: Speed Demon
Lacquer dries in minutes — sometimes as fast as five — which is exactly why furniture factories love it. The result is a smooth, glossy surface that photographs beautifully and feels slick to the touch.
But here’s what nobody tells you up front: lacquer can be brittle. My old coffee table had a lacquer finish that looked absolutely stunning until my wife set a hot mug down without a coaster. The heat cracked the finish in a perfect ring shape. I still hear about that coaster thing.
If you’re going to use lacquer, spray it. Seriously. I’ve tried brushing lacquer exactly once. It sets up so fast you end up chasing brush marks across the surface like some kind of frustrating speed-painting exercise. Never again.
Oil Finishes: When You Want to Actually Feel the Wood
Linseed oil and tung oil work completely differently from film finishes. Instead of sitting on top of the wood, they soak right down into the fibers. The grain pops, the surface feels like actual wood rather than something coated in plastic, and there’s this warmth that film finishes just can’t replicate.
My workshop bench has had tung oil on it for going on eight years now. It honestly looks better than the day I finished it — the patina that develops with use and age is something you can’t fake.
The catch is maintenance. Oil finishes need refreshing roughly once a year, sometimes more on high-use surfaces. And they’re not going to protect against water the way polyurethane or varnish will. I learned that the hard way when a leaky plant pot sat on an oiled shelf for a week. Left a nice dark ring.
Wax: Old-School Charm
Paste wax gives furniture this soft, warm glow that’s hard to describe until you see it in person. That aged look on antiques that people pay ridiculous money for? A lot of that comes down to wax.
I’ll sometimes layer wax over another finish to add depth, or use it on its own for decorative stuff that won’t see much wear — picture frames, display shelves, that kind of thing. It’s dead simple to apply and even simpler to repair. Got a scuff? Just buff on more wax.
Don’t put wax on your kitchen table, though. Trust me. It’s way too soft for daily use and you’ll end up with marks from every plate, glass, and elbow.
Shellac: Bug Juice That Actually Works
Here’s a fun one — shellac literally comes from the secretions of lac bugs. I know, I know. Sounds terrible. But it makes one of the most beautiful finishes you’ll ever see. Dries fast, buffs to a gorgeous sheen, and it’s been used for literally centuries.
I reach for shellac mainly when I’m restoring antiques. It was the standard finish for so long that using it on old pieces just looks right. Plus — and this is the real selling point for me — if you make a mistake, you dissolve it with denatured alcohol and try again. Go ahead and try that with dried polyurethane. I’ll wait.
The downside is durability. Water damages shellac, alcohol damages shellac, basically anything fun at a dinner party damages shellac. So keep it off bar tops and dining tables.
Polyurethane: The Modern Workhorse
When most people say “varnish” these days, they actually mean polyurethane. It comes in two flavors: oil-based, which adds a warm amber tone and takes longer to dry, and water-based, which stays crystal clear and dries in a few hours.
For anything that’s going to take daily abuse, oil-based poly is my first reach. My kitchen cabinets have had it on them for eight years and they still look great with nothing more than occasional wiping down. Water-based is what I grab when I’m working with light-colored woods like maple or ash and don’t want any yellowing.
The one complaint I hear all the time — and honestly it’s valid — is that poly can look plasticky if you lay it on too thick. The secret is multiple thin coats. Three thin coats will look ten times better than one thick one, every single time.
Acrylic: The Shop-Friendly Option
Acrylic finishes are water-based, low-odor, and they don’t yellow over time. I started using them a few years back when my garage shop’s ventilation wasn’t keeping up with oil-based fumes and my wife was making comments about the smell in the house.
They clean up with soap and water, which sounds minor but makes a real difference at the end of a long day in the shop. No messing around with mineral spirits or turpentine.
So Which Finish Should You Actually Pick?
After all these years, here’s how I think about it:
- Heavy daily use (dining tables, kitchen stuff, floors)? Polyurethane or varnish. Don’t overthink it.
- Want that natural, hand-rubbed look where you can still feel the wood? Oil finish, hands down.
- Willing to do some annual maintenance in exchange for that incredible feel? Oil again.
- Working in a space with poor ventilation or you’re sensitive to fumes? Water-based acrylic or water-based poly.
- Restoring antiques? Shellac, period.
There’s no single perfect finish — I’ve used every one of these on different projects depending on what made sense. The formal dining table got five coats of oil-based poly. The rustic farmhouse bench in the mudroom just got a couple coats of Danish oil. Both look exactly right for what they are.
Whatever you choose, take your time with application. A sloppy finish job is visible from across the room and no amount of “it’ll look fine once it dries” will fix drips, runs, or brush marks. Ask me how I know.
