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Here at Technical Finishing Services, wood finish samples are still primarily - our livelihood. Each finisher is responsible for producing a wood finish from beginning to end. We specifically select only the finest veneers and solid lumber that are to be used in your sampling products. We not only are in the business of matching the wood finish, but want to show the representative wood characteristics as well. All face veneers (logs) are selected by our finishers, looking for qualities in the logs that will represent your product. Our veneered and balanced panels use the finest cores and glues available for stability and machine ability. We always have lots of veneer-over-MDF panel inventory on hand in all the major domestic wood species - Cherry, Maple, Walnut, Oak (Red & White), Ash, Beech (European White), Anigre, Sapeli, Sycamore, and Hickory. We also stock some panels in the exotic wood species. We buy our logs from many different veneer mills. We can procure any species you may have in your line as well as reconstituted composite face veneers. We have close working ties with our panel producers and lumber suppliers and can usually have panels or moulding made in a few weeks. Our solid lumber is hand picked from finest sources available. Each sample we produce will always have the backs and edges sealed to provide stability & integrity in your samples. A state-of-the-art sanding process is used in all our finishing operations. As with any finish, the quality of the final appearance starts with preparation and quality substrates. The finisher will select the lumber he feels represents your Master Color Control Standard that you will need to supply TFS. Formulation of the finish (and in most cases, production) will then take place. We use a number of coating suppliers and we will insure that only top quality, dyes, pigments, toners, glazes, wiping stains and topcoats are used for your samples. All of our clear coats have a UV inhibitor in their formulation to protect and insure the colors stay true.  All the panels or solid
lumber are finished together on large
easels we built to accommodate the consistency we all are striving for.
We designed our custom sized spray booths with extra
lighting incorporating color retention light bulbs to provide the
finisher with
a quality-oriented, work environment. The finish room itself, is
environmentally
controlled to provide a coating-friendly atmosphere. Regularly
scheduled
cleanings are maintained to insure a dust free coating for your wood
finish
samples. When an order is placed, the
number of
panels or moulding
will be pulled from our stock or produced. When the samples are quality checked individually,
we can typically throw away up to 30% in holding the tight color consistency we are trying to achieve. On are veneered products, all the veneer panels are separated by the log numbers that were established by our panel processors. Your finish samples are always produced from the same log (and usually the same area from that log) in order to maintain a consistent coloration, effect and wood characteristics. The process of finishing your samples include many stringent quality control measures that must be met. Each of the washcoats, sealers, and topcoats that are applied are thoroughly cured in our production oven and sanded completely before the next coat is applied. The coatings are constantly being checked to insure a proper gloss level and industry accepted adhesion specifications. The finish color is also rechecked during the clearcoating process to insure color movement is kept to a minimum. Adjustments will be made if necessary to insure that the quality level and color consistency you need is maintained.   There is still some wood finishes used in the woodworking industry requiring the closed-pored, high gloss "wet" look. and we can handle those types of finishes as well. From the simple, off-the-gun, open-pore wood finish to the hand-polished, high-gloss wet look, you can count on TFS to reproduce the look, feel and color of your wood finishes. The backs of every veneered panel we produce are cleaned, sanded, and thoroughly sealed up by painting them black. On solid lumber the backs are either finished or sanded clean after finishing. We want to insure that even the back of wood finish sample shows quality workmanship. 
After finishing is completed, the production run will arrive in our saw room were we will pull the lightest and darkest panel in the batch, cut them into samples and send to you for your approval. After the proofs are approved by you, the product then proceeds to our saw room for processing of the lumber into your wood finish samples. We take every precaution to protect the finished surface throughout this process. All of the veneered samples we produce are routered with a bullnose edge profile to smooth over and round off the edges. Each individual sample is inspected against the parameters that you established during the proofing process and any finish samples that do not fit the parameters established by you, are discarded. The samples continue to the labeling area. Most veneered samples will get the edges painted black to match the backs. This covers up the MDF core giving the illusion of a solid piece of lumber. The samples are then labeled, usually dated, and each sample inserted into a plastic sleeve for finish protection. Thanks for taking the brief tour of our process for producing wood finish samples at TFS. Technical Finishing Services, Inc. Back to Home Page |