: Uhm, my $0.02 worth: Books are written by those who experiment and learn from
: their mistakes. That is how they know what to write. BUT, learning is an
: ongoing process. The more we work with materials, the more we learn. I bet
: in a few years we're gonna know more than we do now regardless what any
: books has to say and someone somewhere will develop an epoxy that works
: well despite the natural cheistry of any wood. I believe books are an
: excellent starting point but real experience speaks louder.

: This has been a very interesting read that demands another run through it
: all. Thanks for the comments - I've learned yet again.

: Robert N Pruden

I can't agree more. I did not say that the book learning was the end of the learning process. On the subject of finishes, one point that Flexner always encourages is experimentation with actual available stains, woods, and finishes to get the desired look. He makes recommendations based on his own tastes (which he always qualified those statements by letting the reader know it was his own personal tastes and that others may find a look, he does not like, appealing) as well as on his own experience of what simply works, or at least worked for him on a consistant basis. My dad, too, never meant that book learning was the end of knowledge. It is important to take such new thoughts and attempt to apply them to our "routines" when it is applicable. Like reading a magazine and finding a tip that makes something you do anyway just a little bit easier. Or it could be using a tool in a way that you had not thought of before. Then again, I remember my dad also had many failures trying out what was suggested in a magazine or book (honestly, I do not personally know anyone else who tried so many different things as suggested by decades of magazines as my dad did, he had Pop Sci's, Pop Mech's and MI's going back to the '40's and was always reading through them looking for tips for making his woodworking and metalworking hobbies easier). There again, you learn by your failures, whether it is because the suggestion did not work in the way you do things or whatever, and sometimes there is some piece of the failed experiment that survives and is incorporated into another method or used on its own because that piece either worked as intended or was found to work in a way that was unintended but useful (unlike some of the "undocumented features" found in some software ). I will inject, though, that if you do keep a piece of information found in a book or magazine that relates to using woodworking power tools or machinery and apply it to something not intended by the original author make sure you do what you can to incorporate it into the procedure safely.

Now I've gone and done it, I've drifted completely OT with no hope of paddling back to safety.

Paul