What Does it Take to Be a Furniture Finisher?
Occupation Description Shape, finish, and refinish damaged, worn, or used furniture or new high-grade furniture to specified color or finish.
Furniture Finisher Responsibilities
- Remove accessories prior to finishing, and mask areas that should not be exposed to finishing processes or substances.
- Distress surfaces with woodworking tools or abrasives before staining to create an antique appearance, or rub surfaces to bring out highlights and shadings.
- Fill and smooth cracks or depressions, remove marks and imperfections, and repair broken parts, using plastic or wood putty, glue, nails, or screws.
- 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.
- Remove excess solvent, using cloths soaked in paint thinner.
- Wash surfaces to prepare them for finish application.
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Things a Furniture Finisher Should Know How to Do
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
- Hand Sander
- Furniture Repairer
- Wood Grainer
- Antiquer
- Finisher
Is There Job Demand for Furniture Finishers?
In 2016, there was an estimated number of 22,400 jobs in the United States for Furniture Finisher. There is little to no growth in job opportunities for Furniture Finisher. Due to new job openings and attrition, there will be an average of 2,000 job openings in this field each year.

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

Furniture Finishers who work in Connecticut, New Hampshire, or Nebraska, make the highest salaries.
How much do Furniture Finishers make in different U.S. states?
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 |
Tools & Technologies Used by Furniture Finishers
Although they’re not necessarily needed for all jobs, the following technologies are used by many Furniture Finishers:
- Web browser software
- Intuit QuickBooks
How to Become a Furniture Finisher
Learn what Furniture Finisher education requirements there are.

What work experience do I need to become a Furniture Finisher?

Furniture Finishers Sector

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

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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