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General Finishes, Wood Stains and Finishes

General Finishes make the finest wood finishes in America. They are easy to use, the colours are fabulous and the top coats are strong and long wearing. Whether you want the bold, luscious colours of water based paints and stains or the classic traditional wood tones of our wipe-on oil base finishes, we have the finish for you. Our Environmentally Friendly products now offer Green Technology.

Popular Products

Gel Stain Easy-to-use stains simply wipe on with a cloth or foam brush. Formulated with a combination of pigments, oils, and urethanes to produce a durable and beautiful  finish.	EF Milk Paint Interior / exterior acrylic paints suitable for indoor or outdoor furniture, crafts, and cabinets. Produce a high quality satin sheen finish	EF Glaze Effects Translucent water based colours used to create beautiful decorative finishes such as distressing, marble, shabby chic, & more. Burnt Umber Glaze over Antique white Milk Paint shown.	Outdoor Oil Exterior-rated penetrating linseed oil. UV stabilizers, mildew prohibitors, and twice the oil contained in competing brands. For all outdoor wood projects, particularly wood furniture.
Arm-R-Seal Urethane topcoats made with the highest quality urethane resin. Extremely durable. Formulated to be wiped on with a cloth or applied with a foam brush. Penetrate to provide deep down protection and that " natural" look.	Dye Stains - NEW Unique, ultra penetrating stains designed to work like solvent-based stains.	H. P. Top Coat Winner of Fine Woodworking's Best Overall Choice Award. The hardest, most durable consumer polyurethane top coat on the market today. Contains a UV Stabilizer. Can be used on floors.	Exterior 450 Designed for exterior wood applications, provides a tough, protective finish that will withstand the rigors of the sun, rain, and wind.

Stockists

1 Jan VAT & Prices: From 1 January 2010 VAT returned to 17.5% from 15%. We have also revised our prices with moderate rises. Free Stir Stick and 52mm / 2" Poly Brush (or advise if wish other size) with every order during January 2010.

2010 Shows: A range of our products will be available at the following shows:

West's Wood Show 7 & 8 May 2010. Selham, Petworth, West Sussex.

Review May 2009: Good Woodworking June '08 issue, "General Finishes Milk Paints may not be cheap, but I was impressed by their coverage & ease of application". See review and mini project. Issue also features a review of the Scottish Woodworking show "Taking its place as the king of the new products was General Finishes"

Twitter: Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeneralFinishEU

Soon: We will soon have stock of our new General Finishes Enduro Pre-Cat Urethane top coats. These utilise the latest resin and cross linking technology to provide maximum toughness, durability and water resistance. It is comparable to any conversion varnish or pre-catalyzed product.

Hazardous Shipping Charge Reduced to £3.20: Items hazardous for shipping purposes (mainly oil based products) now have a much reduced shipping supplement of £3.20 per order. Item detail pages show if a product is hazardous for shipping purposes.

Go Green With General Finishes Environmentally Friendly Products: Most of our General Finishes and Enduro Water Based products now meet four of the American green standards. For details see our Go Green With General Finishes Environmentally Friendly Products pdf. (Note some products are only available by special order).

2009 Shows: A range of our products were available at the following shows:

The ToolPost Open House free show 26 & 27 June 2009. Didcot, Oxfordshire.

North of England Woodworking and Power Tool Show 20 - 22 November 2009 Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate.

During 2009 we were also at the following: Festival of the Tree, August 2009, Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire (at Cassic Hand Tools stand, see their festival info for more details). Yandles Autumn Woodworking Show, September 2009, Martock, Somerset. Scottish National Woodworking and Power Tool Show 13 - 15 March 2009 SECC, Glasgow, Stand 69.

Exterior 450 Performance Data: See our detailed Performance Data for our new Exterior 450 finish designed for exterior wood applications, Exterior 450 varnish provides your wood with a tough, protective finish that will withstand the rigors of the sun, rain, and wind. Ideal for outdoor furniture, doors, and case goods.

Suggested Wood Finishing Book: We recommend this book "Foolproof Wood Finishing by Teri Masaachi". RRP £11.99, ISBN 978-1-56523-303-4. You can order direct from GMC Publications or by calling 01273 488 005. See sample pages (reproduced with permission).: Applying Quick-Dry Wiping Stains - page 61 - Applying Gel Pigment Stains - page 63 - Applying Non-Grain-Raising Dyes by Hand - page 70 - Soft Rub-Out for Penetrating Wipe-On Finishes - page 122.

New Wood Finishing Info Forum: We have launched a wood finishing forum Wood Finishing Info at www.woodfinishing.info for supporting our product and encourage user discussion. As a small incentive one random active user will win some free products of their choice (details in 'General Finishes Announce' forum). For questions about our products please now use our 'General Finishes Global Discussion & Support' forum.

The Country Color range is being discontinued: Stocks shown in the store are final amounts available. Due to this we are offering buy 1 get 1 free. Please add your first and second choice for your free Country Color in the 'Any Delivery Instructions' comment field at checkout. We will always try to supply your first choice.

Factory Photo : Below is a photo of the new manufacturing facility in East Troy, Wisconsin which opened in 2006. For more info see our History page.

Completed East Troy factory, 2007.

Review: Ian Taylor in The Woodworker, August 2007 builds a Country-Style table and uses General Finishes Milk Paints and Water Based Top Coat to create a distressed finish. "The process worked very well, and for a first attempt I was pleased with it. I’ll definitely try it again – a matching pine storage chest has been added to my future projects list. There’s a wide range of options with this finish." See full review pdf.

Free Draw: Sign up for our newsletter for news, offers, tips and regular free prize draws. (Sorry prize draw limited to Mainland Britain only).

Stock: We now stock the larger (946ml / Quart) sizes of our popular Gel Stains, Outdoor Oil (great for garden furniture), Butcher Block Oil and Cherry Danish Oil.

Review: The Woodworker, March 2007. Review of range, testing High Performance, Arm-R-Seal and Gel Stain. "Pros: High quality and big range. Cons: Not yet available in the shops. Recommended". See full review pdf. See stockists above!

Review: Water Based High Performance rated "Author's Best Overall Choice" by Fine Woodworking Magazine Nov / Dec 2006. Trade enquires, please see our Trade page.

The Product Ranges

Water Based Finishes Waterbase Top Coats, Wood Stains, Country Colors, Milk Paints, Glaze Effects and Crackle.	Oil Based Finishes Wipe-on Liquid Top Coats, Gel Stains & Top Coats, Salad Bowl Finish, Outdoor Oil, and Danish Oils.	Enduro Industrial Waterborne Finishes Industrial Stains, Acrylic Top Coats, Undercoats, Milk Paints, Glaze Effects & more.
Water Based Products	Oil Based Products	Industrial Products