Refinishing Furniture Made Simple: Includes Companion Step-By-Step Video

I love this book and CD! I have taken up refinishing wooden furniture and other things as a hobby and was looking for a good Ole' fashioned, reliable and dependable, easy to understand guide. Well this is definitely that! The book is full of easy to understand directions and photos, as well as pictures and examples of different types of products that are out there to use in the projects; from beginner-moderate, and on up. After that, the CD shows, in real time, what the book talks about and you are able to see the pros techniques, but he goes easily and slowly enough, that even the beginner can get it. He also talks to the more experienced woodworker throughout. This is definitely a 5star A+ for me!

The dvd is an important addition and worth the purchase price. The book gives good basic information for the beginner.

I am a really, really bad furniture refinisher.Now I know why. I do almost everything wrong--or at least wrong enough!-- and didn't really understand the ins and outs of finish-strippers, paint-strippers and so forth. Oops. They don't all work on the same stuff. Ooops they need different brushes. Ah, so that's the proper way to sand. . . why nothing was sticking because I used the wrong glue. Who knew, right?This writer does--he knows everything. it's like reading a textbook--but very easy to get through. Like having somebody talk to you. Read it cover-to-cover as soon as it arrived.I had bought a few "easier" how-to spiff up your old furniture & yard sale find type books that were more on my (very very low) level, but this one really covers it all, for redoing wood.Those other books often had stuff like stencils, decoupage, weird painting (over gorgeous wood! my eyes are bleeding just from seeing that!).I wanted to know the wood stuff, and only the wood stuff. And maybe how to make some really simple repairs.I'll never be able to do the impressive job this man does, but at least I will do . . .um, better and not poison myself in the process.Highly recommend it, even for weekend furniture warriors like me.

I found this book to be a good introduction to the process of refinishing furniture. I'm not sure how much I will put this knowledge to use, but it gives me a good reference as I consider whether to refinish some furniture rather than replacing it.

Having misplaced - again - the second copy of what I consider my furniture refinishing bible; having read the good reviews of this book; and having decided, "Heck, what's one more instructional book on the shelf?", I opted to purchase a new copy directly from Amazon.I'm a shade tree, hobbyist refinisher who works on "old furniture', not fine antiques. I live in Europe, where my husband is stationed, and acquire items at flea markets, auctions, and second-hand stores which I think are worthy of a second life. They are mostly French, mostly oak, cherry, or elm, and mostly 100 - 150 years old (with a couple of newer and older exceptions). I don't sand them down to bare wood, rarely stain them, and don't try to hide the bumps and bruises that give them character. My favorite finishes are traditional: wax and shellac (from unwaxed flakes)All of that being said, I was hoping to pick up a couple of new tips and tricks from Jeff Jewitt's book. Sadly, if you have any experience with refinishing, almost everything he discusses you probably already know. If you're a novice, his explanations aren't detailed enough to ensure that you will arrive at the end of your refinishing journey with a piece that you're proud to display.A couple of my other pet peeves follow:- He sands. A lot. That's a great option if you're working on a cheap piece of pine that was originally bought from an unfinished furniture store back in 1989. But, if you're working on an oak dresser that was originally constructed decades ago and has, over the years, acquired a lovely patina under the gunky old finish, sanding will ruin the piece. (Yes, a go-over with 600 grit is, IMHO, fine.)- He suggests boiled linseed oil as a possible finish but doesn't explain the pros and cons. Everything that I've read indicates that there are far more cons associated with linseed oil than there are pros.- He tends to lean in favor of modern finishes over the more traditional ones, which could lead a novice to think that slapping a couple of coats of poly onto a 100 year old piece is a stellar idea. I wish he had included a more thorough discussion about traditional finishes and their appropriateness.- While he does devote a short chapter to furniture repair, it's short. If a piece is in need of such repair that it must be disassembled, you may want to buy dedicated book to talk you thru the process.I do like his introduction about assessing whether a piece that you find is worth your time and effort. Like Jeff, I too have been overenthusiastic about a bargain. As a matter of fact, one of them is sitting out in my garage right now.....Overall a decent book for beginners, with great photographs, but doesn't add much to an experienced hobbyist's body of knowledge.

I had previously checked this book out of our local library. It was so helpful, clearly explained different options for refinishing furniture. The DVD showed the author in action demonstrating the differences between refinishing and restoring... and when to do what. I think this was the best book I have seen on the topic, especially for myself, a novice. I purchased it as a gift to pass these techniques on.

One of the better books I've found so far on the rather specific subject of refinishing after repair/restoration work. As a professional woodworker, I was already pretty familiar with about 90 percent of the material covered here. Why do all these books have to be so repetitive? On the other hand, I can't remember the last time I found a woodworking book where 10 percent of the material unfamiliar to me, and some of the new information on restoring crazed finishes without losing the patina was directly applicable to a project I'm working on now.I deducted a star because I couldn't quite get behind some of the gluing and filling methods recommended for making woodworking repairs before the refinishing starts. Epoxy to fix a loose joint? Really? I know sometimes tight budgets and previous "repairs" leave you with limited options, but I think the book could benefit from a paragraph or two about the value of making your repairs reversible. Everybody has their own thoughts about that, I guess, and anyway, this is a book about finishing, and a pretty good one.

KISS comes to mind when I quickly perused this book. Yes it takes you back to basics and the CD that comes with it backs up the written word.

Both the book and video were very helpful. I have used several of the tips already. It was very easy to understand.

Clear illustrated instructions written by someone who knew what they were writing about.

5 Stars! Thank you!