The personal equation enters very largely into the work, and if twenty boys have a given method explained to them and they all polish, say, a box of the same size and material, there will result twenty different kinds of polished surfaces.
This is due to difference in temperament. Some boys are patient and painstaking. Others are nervously anxious to get through and see how it looks. It is a fact particularly true of finishing that it cannot be hurried without endangering the result. Every coat must be thoroughly dry and hard before the next one is put on. Different woods require different treatment, and the elements of good taste, colour, and harmony all enter into the problem.
These statements are not made to discourage the young woodworker, because finishing can be done well by any boy who will use reasonable care, but to emphasize the fact that it is poor policy to make a fine piece of woodwork and then spoil it at the last moment by hurry.
Staining is something on which opinions differ greatly. Some artists claim that only the natural colour of the wood should be used, but a great deal of staining is done, and we must leave artistic arguments to others.
The extent to which staining is carried may be illustrated by the following finishes used on one kind of wood—oak:
| Golden oak | Antwerp oak | Rotterdam |
| English oak | Ox blood | Antique |
| Forest green | Weathered oak | Cathedral oak |
| Austrian | Flemish brown | Flemish green |
| Silver gray | Sumatra brown | Filipino |
| Mission oak | Malachite | Fumed oak |
| Bog oak |
The writer believes that staining to make imitations is wrong, such as staining cherry or birch to give the impression of mahogany.
The list of materials for staining is very bewildering, and it is advisable to reduce the list to a few reliable ones and learn to use them well. They may be divided roughly into three classes: oil stains, water stains, and stains produced from drugs or chemicals.
Oil stains are dry colours ground in oil such as chrome yellow, Prussian blue, burnt umber, burnt sienna, etc. When preparing one of these for use, thin with turpentine and linseed oil and apply with a brush. After it has stood for a few moments rub off with a piece of cotton waste or rag.
Water stains are colours dissolved in water.