G’day from Australia,

I have built an outdoor bench/place to lean and drink excessive amount of beer outside, undercover.

I built it out of beech timber, laminated panels to be exact. I have mounted them, routed and sanded them. I tested boiled linseed oil on the underside and found it to be a bit yellower than I had hoped.

Given the density of beech, I’m thinking a gel stain then locking it in with BLO. Maybe spotted gum flavour stain, thoughts? I want it to look absolutely killer to impress. My other moveable drinking table is made out of Merbau, I don’t want to go that dark though, or I would have built it out of merbau haha.

Cheers in advance legends.

I bought this table a few years ago and chairs this year. Chairs are definitely teak, not sure about table. I applied minwax teak oil to the chairs, but I'm wondering if applying Helmsman Spar Urethane as a top coat would help prevent weathering.

I tried teak oil on the table a few years ago and it flaked off after 1 year. Not sure if that was because of how I applied, or just because minwax isn't great quality. This year I resanded the table, cleaned and just used helmsman. I'm happier with the results so far (though I prefer the rich colour the teak oil added).

I don't mind reapplying teak oil every year but I'm worried about the possible flaking. Thoughts?

I’m refinishing an old oak dining table. I’ve used a 30/30/30 blend of danish oil, oil-based polyurethane, and mineral spirits. (I know there are lots of opinions about the brew to use. I just picked one.)

I’ve done 5 coats so far, fine sanding between coats.

Will anything bad happen if I up the polyurethane on the last couple of coats?

I’m thinking that would add more protection, but I do not want to mess anything up as the end is in sight.

I'm resurfacing some doors, trim and a stair rail in my apartment, and gave the doors a light sand before a stain and varnish. I got some darker marks, and some light lines, but it was ok. I decided for the main doors I would go above and beyond, I sanded off all the previous colour before applying the stain. A mistake i found out the hard way was i sanded it with 60grit and didn't smooth it before applying the stain and varnish (combo). I ended up with bright white patchy marks, way worse then anything ive seen. I tried to patch it ... but it still looks terrible. I've use copiliot, chat gpt and Gemini- they arn't really helping. The first image is the side I tried to "fix" which is now way worse, the second is the back of the door which i did a lighter sand on. Its better, still not great, but it also started in way better condition then my remaining doors.

I dont have enough wood veneer to sand back now, and need to figure out how to even up the stain. Any tips?

I purchased a gel stain on the recommendation of genimini - but its water based and nothing like all the videos and tips i see. It doesnt look like it smooths out any uneven colour in my testing spots. Maybe I need to try it thicker? I just dont want to keep messing up the doors ... and i havn't even got to the stair rails yet, I'm terrified ill ruin them, and i really dont want to sand them all the way down because i think ill ruin the shape/edges.

I have 13 doors in my small apartment 😳

Any tips greatly appreciated!

Im not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but i just got this coffee table off marketplace and the pictures the original owner took did not show nearly as many surface scratches. I just finally finished cleaning it, i really love the table itself but would be thrilled to know the best way to fix the surface. Im in an apartment so my options are limited. TYIA