Best woodworker you’ve never heard of?

[Tom M King]

Just makes me wonder what the property tax is on that house now, and who is currently living there. I built our kitchen out of a dead Walnut tree simply because I couldn't afford anything else at the time and that tree was given to me to take it down and move it. I still have some lumber from it, mostly short pieces.

[Warren Lake]

Stain implies a defect? Hardly ive been around stained stuff all my life. At 18 I was selling SG's and Strats and Les Pauls and 335's and 20 other guitars., The bulk of them were coloured lacquer or stains sometimes several colours on one. The 65 335 was cherry sunburst. At least three different stains to get that finish. My Tele was a stained finish and the ES150 was the only natural finish guitar I had.

You likely wont find more stain than on solid body guitars. Some builders go through multiple steps to get the best out of curl and figure and make it pop way more than if was natural colour.

The nicest new made to look old floors ive seen were antique hickory. They had hand work and four different samples of brown. If the hickory was left natural it would have looked bland. Its not going age and darken like cherry. I really like antique hemlock floors but they are a specific thing and dont suit all. still they have the colour and richness from age that is not there on new boards.

On the reception desk below the top is prime cherry and the base is poplar. Customer wanted a dark green antique. Samples were made they pick the sample they like the best. For all the cabinetmakers I met never met one who said I dont stain. I did meet a few who said they dont do any finishing and ship their work off to others to do it. You work with an interior designer then you are going to have to make stuff in stains and colours. Ive done metallic silver up to gloss black mirror. Doing custom work has meant having to match stuff for people. Probably done more clear stuff, its easier for sure. Finishing the top was easy compared to the base.


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[Andrew Hughes]

That look absolutely great Warren.
Maybe I use the word defect too broad your piece looks like it was painted and not defective in any way.
Some of the words I hate to hear from a possible commission is. You don’t have to use expensive wood just stain it to look like walnut. Thats not something I could do or want to learn.
Good Luck

[Joe Calhoon]

Warren, lot of skill involved in finishing for sure. Did a lot of that in my works 20 to 40 years ago doing architectural interiors. Staining, glazing, shading, wash coating etc. still have all the equipment, spray booth, Kremlin air mix, fresh air mask, vfd on the fan for off gassing and a dip tank for exterior water base finish. At different times had some good finishers working for me and that was nice. Bottom line for me I didn’t enjoy all the nasty materials and always felt it was like putting makeup on.
In semi retirement only doing hand applied natural finish. If something needs paint or stain I hire the local painter and let him use the booth.