Glossary
Furniture Finisher Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential furniture finisher terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key furniture finisher vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in furniture finisher training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Blush
- Cloudy finish from moisture.
- Conversion varnish
- Durable cabinet finish.
- Dust collection
- Removes sawdust.
- Finish schedule
- Order of finishing steps.
- French polish
- Traditional shellac finish.
- Glaze
- Color layer for depth.
- Grain
- Wood fiber direction.
- Joinery
- Ways of joining wood.
- Lacquer
- Fast-drying finish.
- Orange peel
- Bumpy finish.
- Sealer
- First clear coat.
- Sheen
- Gloss level.
- Shop drawing
- Detailed build drawing.
- Stain
- Changes wood color.
- Toner
- Tinted finish.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Furniture Finisher practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Furniture Finisher training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.