lux , in response to your last post , I'd seriously suggest that you start your quest to learn about restoration (refinishing?) by choosing a low-value item to work on .
Restoration is a whole bigger skill area , vs. refinishing .
A historic/valuable piece can be devalued quite a bit by not really having much experience at it (innocent mistakes can and will happen) .
Everybody I know has goofed up a piece or two when they began to learn how to do either of these skills .
If ya' goof up a cheap piece , well , it just means that the valuable lesson was obtained @ below wholesale (always a good idea) .
Public libraries are a good starting point & you might even get a feel for how things have changed (without having to shell out $ for a book that's no good) ...check out the older as well as the newer books .
There's really no substitue for experience , though (according to me) .
It took me 10 years to get very competent at it , landing a contract for my first huge restoration job in 1975/1976 ( and getting recognition for the "Restoration of the Year" from the Mobile , Al. Historic Society ) ....
....And I'm still learning .
