Solo Faux Woodgrain Courses by Wood Type

• Doors: Interior, exterior, garage…
• Tables, dressers, chairs… any furniture
• Trim, casing, baseboard, cove, crown, paneling…
• Inlay and marquetry

• Crystal clear, No guess work: Every detail of tool, brush and material use explained
• Videos: Each step demonstrated in narrated video
• Access: Stream videos and view eBooks 24/7/365 for self study freedom
• Hi-Res images with Step-By-Step text 

Cherry

You’ll learn

• Basic grain for simple projects and “side grain”
• Tool creation and use unique to the Perfect Woodgrain method 
• Heart, knots, figure and cracks for mind bending realism 

I spent many hours developing techniques to get the colors and textures right for Cherry. I think it paid off.

The tight, turbulent, active under grain in Cherry creates a foundation for a very wide range of colors, grains and other features.

You’ll first learn to grain a subtle, basic Cherry. Over this, we’ll paint rich reds and yellows, straight grain and heart grain, simple and more curly figure, unique cherry “pin knots” and more.

Cherry hardwood is widely used in residential and commercial construction and remodel.

Natural Cherry gets darker and more red over time from exposure to UV light and other environmental elements.

A mid-priced, sustainable hardwood, it’s common in flooring, cabinetry, milwork, doors…

Attractive dramatic and subtle features make it suitable for the finest furniture, boxes, gifts, frames…

Cherry is a favorite among home owners, designers, builders and faux finishers. Don’t be surprised when clients call with requests for faux Cherry cabinets.

Antique Brown Oak

You’ll learn

• Basic, easy textured Oak grain and “side grain”
• Rubber and metal comb use
• Dramatic heart grain, knots, figure, cracks…
• Quarter Sawn Brown Oak 

Oaks have enough characteristics in common that you’ll be able to create all you’ll ever need with just a few paint techniques.

This course focuses on what’s often referred to as “English Brown Oak”.

Some furniture craftsmen call it “Pub Oak” because it was commonly used in public houses like bars, restaurants and government buildings in England, Ireland and early America.

While there are a variety of English, American and other Brown Oaks, those differences can be matched using the techniques taught in this this course through color and brush/tool work variations.

Maple

You’ll learn

• A very simple, basic (but gorgeous) Maple
• Rag and blending techniques for vibrant “curly” figure
• Birds Eye knots, grain and figure
• Dramatic heart grain, knots…

The wood that brightens the room, maple is perhaps the most bright and cheerful of the commonly used hardwoods.

It’s the only wood where lighter sapwood is used as often as heart.

Perhaps most famous for “curly” “quilted” and “birds-eye”, carpenters work tirelessly with sand paper and finishes to maximize these features.

Hard Maple is common in flooring from basketball courts and dance-floors to bowling alleys and residential homes.

It’s tight, dense structure makes it suitable for musical instruments, knife handles, baseball bats, pens, and other turned objects.

Antique Yellow Pine

You’ll learn

• Unique, powerful rubber comb creation and application for basic and advanced grain
• Dramatic “flair” knots
• Quick and efficient straight grain
• Flowing heart grain
• Rich figure and more

Golden and amber tones, graceful lines, deep red flare knots and lots of gorgeous heart grain.

Over the decades, this wood has transcended rough construction and become a mainstay of American design.

At its most basic level, Faux Pine can be painted quickly with a minimum of brush and tool work.

But don’t be surprised when you find the advanced techniques irresistible.

Home and business owners need trim, cabinets and other millwork matched with reclaimed Pine beams and flooring.

It’s great for upgrading old furniture, creating early American style paneling, or whatever your imagination can dream up.

Walnut & Walnut Burl

You’ll learn

• Basic, simple (but gorgeous) Walnut
• Advanced heart grain and figure
• Walnut Burl: Flowing burl grain, knot clusters and rich, complex figure 
• Can be applied to create burls in other wood types. 

Walnut lines can be long, flowing and graceful or very tight and complex. As with other very dense hard woods, knots burl features and cracks are not uncommon.

Colors range from soft yellow-orange to midnight black, chocolates and dark purples.

The popularity of Walnuts beautiful dark, rich tones and complex grain structures exploded post war in the states. 

“Mid-Century” Walnut wood work became some of the most inventive and sought after furniture in the history of the craft.

For design purposes, Walnut makes a great contrast to lighter woods and is found in paneling, doors, flooring and cabinetry, smaller decorative pieces, sculpture and of course furniture.

Macassar Ebony

You’ll learn

• Custom tool making for creating the unique grain of this exotic hardwood
• Fine parallel grain
• Brilliant curly figure and more.  

Macassar Ebony is a vibrant tropical hardwood with warm undertones ranging from light ocher to deep orange.

The grain is black and primarily thick and wide, but can also be lacy and fine.

Macassar Ebony is popular among the finest furniture makers and can be found in all eras from Art Nouveau to Art Deco to Mid-Century Modern to current designs.

It’s favored by fine musical instrument makers, for lathe turning projects and much more.

While not yet listed as endangered, this wood is increasingly rare and expensive due to deforestation as well as importing difficulties caused by political issues.

I love Macassar Ebony for inlay and accent on furniture and just about anywhere else.

Figured & Quarter Sawn Oak 

You’ll learn

• Multi-directional grain patterns unique to Oak
• Advanced white and red oak heart grain 
• Quarter Sawn Red and White Oaks
• Oak Cats Paw knot clusters, cracks, flare figure and much more

This is perhaps the most extensive course I offer. You’ll learn to use steel and rubber combs, burlap and other tools unique to this highly sought after, versatile hardwood.  

And this course includes an extensive section dedicated to brilliant Quarter Sawn Figured Oak. 

With over 400 species of oak trees and shrubs, you could spend a lifetime learning nothing but faux Oak, and never even scratch the surface of possibilities.

Lucky for us, the common Oaks share enough characteristics that you’ll be able to create all you’ll ever need with these paint techniques.

All that variety makes for a vast range of possibilities of color, shape and texture.

Figure (curly, fiddle, pillow…) as seen in many other woods, tends to fade and disappear over time. This is especially true of Oak. 

Since our figure is painted, we don’t face that problem. Instead, we get to incorporate great looking figure that will last as long as the paint.