Water Based Wood Finishing

Updated December 2025 A Personal Note from Jeff Weiss Back in October 2024, you may have read about Target Coatings launching a new brand called EMCAT+®. At the time, maybe your reaction was, “Hey, this stuff sounds cool, but what the heck are they talking about?” Well, not wanting to be accused of overselling my […]

UPDATED: November 2025 You have probably noticed the trending popularity of the “natural wood look” or “raw wood finish,” where the final result is a beautiful piece of furniture that looks as if it is raw wood without a single coat of finish. The challenge is, even an ultra-clear coating or lacquer on light woods

Whether you are a seasoned professional or a dedicated DIY finisher, achieving a flawless kitchen cabinet finish requires more than just the right spray equipment. Kitchen cabinetry—and other interior woodwork—faces daily exposure to heat, moisture, grease, and frequent cleaning. Choosing the right finishing system is critical to ensuring both beauty and durability. In the following

UPDATED: June 2025 As we start to transition into late spring and summer, now is a good time to talk about the potential challenges of wood finishing in warm weather. As we have discussed in a previous article about wood finishing in cold temperatures, wood coatings can be sensitive to environmental conditions and therefore different

Updated May 2025 High quality wood finishes are an essential aspect of woodworking, providing protection, enhancing beauty, and ensuring the longevity of wood surfaces. With various options available, it can be overwhelming to choose the right types of wood finishes for your project. In this blog post, we’ll explore different types of wood finishes, with

Updated March 2025 A candy coat wood finish can be achieved on many types of projects, and this article will focus specifically on how to achieve it even when you are working with darker colors or low-sheen colors. Why am I highlighting “darker colors and low-sheen?” When using darker, pigmented colors in a 1K paint

Many woodworkers consider woods with a high oil and rosin content to be among the most beautiful materials available, but finishing oily woods has historically been a challenge to accomplish properly and safely. While the correct surface preparation of the selected wood species is important, the methods of preparation come from various schools of thought.

This is going to be a strange opening sentence for this post, but to be perfectly honest, I often steer away from using ANY kind of wood stain if I don’t have to; this includes water-based wood stains. Let me explain: See, I love the look of natural wood in all its variations, and for

My last article explored the value and purpose for using Target Coatings SA5 Brush and Spray Retarder, especially in warm and/or dry weather environments.  For this post, I’ll explain how and when you might want to use the other additive Target Coatings offers, CL100 water-based crosslinker.  Part 1: What is a Crosslinker (vs. a Catalyst)