Note to Parents
Most all products used to finish
wood have an odor to them. Some
are even flammable. Read the label
of all products to understand the
precautions that the manufacturer
recommends. It’s always best to
wait for a pretty day to finish your
projects outdoors. Also, paint and
other finishes put on with a brush
can easily splatter into unprotected
eyes; always wear safety glasses
when there’s a chance that
something can accidentally get into
eyes.some protection. This protection can come in many different forms.
Here are the ones that we’ll be looking at: Paint, oil, stain, wax, and
finish.
Paint
Paint is used when you want to add some color to
your projects. The only limit with the color
combinations that you can use is your
imagination. Paint come in two basic types:
Water base and oil base. Water base is best
because it doesn’t have a strong smell and you can
clean up spills and brushes with water. Look for
paint that says latex on the label. This means its
water based. For a tougher finish use latex
enamel.
Latex comes in three different sheens. A high-gloss, which will make
your project shinny, semi-gloss, can be used if you want just a little bit of
shine and flat paint for no shine. Also, if you’re painting an outside
project chose an exterior latex paint, it will hold up much longer.
Brushes
Before we go further, let’s take a moment to talk about brushes. Brushes
come in many different shapes and sizes. Use the correct size brush for
your project. A large brush on a small project means you’re going to
have a mess on your hands, literally, and using a small brush on a big
project will take much longer than it should.
Bristle brushes come in natural and synthetic. Natural bristle brushes
are actually hair from an animal usually a pig or badger. Natural bristle
brushes are used with oil and solvent -based paints and finishes.