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Furniture Finisher

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What You Need to Know About Furniture Finisher

Career Description Shape, finish, and refinish damaged, worn, or used furniture or new high-grade furniture to specified color or finish.

Life As a Furniture Finisher

  • Remove old finishes and damaged or deteriorated parts, using hand tools, stripping tools, sandpaper, steel wool, abrasives, solvents, or dip baths.
  • Distress surfaces with woodworking tools or abrasives before staining to create an antique appearance, or rub surfaces to bring out highlights and shadings.
  • Mix finish ingredients to obtain desired colors or shades.
  • Brush, spray, or hand-rub finishing ingredients, such as paint, oil, stain, or wax, onto and into wood grain and apply lacquer or other sealers.
  • Recommend woods, colors, finishes, and furniture styles, using knowledge of wood products, fashions, and styles.
  • Wash surfaces to prepare them for finish application.

Qualities of a Furniture Finisher

Furniture Finishers state the following job skills are important in their day-to-day work.

Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Time Management: Managing one’s own time and the time of others.

Operation Monitoring: Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.

Other Furniture Finisher Job Titles

  • Furniture Technician
  • Furniture Repair Technician
  • Refinisher
  • Recoater
  • Lacquer Sprayer

What Kind of Furniture Finisher Job Opportunities Are There?

In the United States, there were 22,400 jobs for Furniture Finisher in 2016. There is little to no growth in job opportunities for Furniture Finisher. The BLS estimates 2,000 yearly job openings in this field.

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The states with the most job growth for Furniture Finisher are Utah, Florida, and Nevada. Watch out if you plan on working in New Hampshire, Vermont, or Maine. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.

Furniture Finisher Salary

The salary for Furniture Finishers ranges between about $22,600 and $48,720 a year.

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Furniture Finishers who work in Connecticut, New Hampshire, or Nebraska, make the highest salaries.

How much do Furniture Finishers make in each U.S. state?

State Annual Mean Salary
Alabama $28,510
Arizona $33,160
Arkansas $28,410
California $36,710
Colorado $36,700
Connecticut $39,870
Florida $31,950
Georgia $31,180
Idaho $32,860
Illinois $35,280
Indiana $31,490
Iowa $34,430
Kansas $31,410
Kentucky $31,720
Maine $30,870
Maryland $38,100
Massachusetts $38,460
Michigan $35,740
Minnesota $39,040
Mississippi $28,420
Missouri $38,060
Nebraska $41,050
Nevada $34,810
New Hampshire $42,710
New Jersey $35,940
New York $38,500
North Carolina $30,710
North Dakota $34,670
Ohio $31,520
Oklahoma $32,990
Oregon $31,760
Pennsylvania $34,810
Rhode Island $41,200
South Carolina $32,840
South Dakota $27,350
Tennessee $34,000
Texas $29,900
Utah $37,110
Vermont $30,480
Virginia $29,450
Washington $39,770
West Virginia $29,450
Wisconsin $33,170

What Tools do Furniture Finishers Use?

Below is a list of the types of tools and technologies that Furniture Finishers may use on a daily basis:

  • Web browser software
  • Intuit QuickBooks

How do I Become a Furniture Finisher?

What education or degrees do I need to become a Furniture Finisher?

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How many years of work experience do I need?

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Who Employs Furniture Finishers?

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The table below shows the approximate number of Furniture Finishers employed by various industries.

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Similar Careers

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References:

Image Credit: Airman 1st Class Sadie Colbert via Public domain

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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