Reply by OSU55

Probably these books:

Great Wood Finishes Jeff Jewitt Taunton Press 2000
Understanding Wood Finishing Bob Flexner Reader’s Digest 2005

These led to other tools, products (such as dyes instead of pigment stains), etc., but these “tools” (the books) opened an entire new world of achieving all types of finishes, which I have thoroughly enjoyed learning and doing. Finishing is 1/2 of a project, so why not give it the commitment it deserves.

I enjoy every time I use one of my handplanes, whether it’s an old refurb, a Veritas, a Mujingfang woodie or other, that I’ve tuned up to do exactly what I want. They transformed my woodworking – I can flatten any size table or panel, and build an entire large project and barely use sandpaper.

Then there’s the cheap HF lathe I’ve tuned up and used to make some very nice turnings (several in my projects) and used for other miscellaneous projects.