Joel's Blog

A Whole Lot of 'Splaining (Explaining the Explainer)

10/22/2025

Let’s face it, carrying niche products entails a lot of explaining and the explaining runs the gamut from the considered to the absurd. We have callers who need help to figure out which sander is right for them. We also find ourselves giving detailed product instructions to callers who have made their purchases on Amazon and despaired of understanding what they bought. We have fielded questions from callers who want us to color-match their furniture on the basis of their description (“it’s a nice rich brown”) or help them find replacement parts for perfectly fine hand tools they just bought at a yard sale that need a blade or a part.

There are obvious limits to our ability to answer every question, but we do try to share our knowledge. And admittedly some of our products can be confusing. For example, customers who come to our combination showroom - warehouse - workshop in Brooklyn will be greeted by a display of Osmo finishes. Osmo is a wonderful product line, but its names can be confusing (no, Polyx is not polyurethane and Wood Wax Finish is not a finishing wax) and the color of the name panel on the can has nothing to do with the can's contents’ color. Enter The Explainer.

The Explainer for Osmo gives an overview of the product line, and the pros and cons of different methods of application. We try to capture feedback from everyone: our own experiences and our customers’ experiences; highlights from long exchanges with our Osmo rep; tips from YouTube videos that actually worked; instructions in tiny print that might otherwise be overlooked. The point of The Explainer is to distill the range of accurate information and make it practical and actionable.

We often have questions ourselves, perhaps as a product changes over time. Festool, for example, has drastically expanded its offerings of cordless tools - including two cordless vacuums. How do you use these cordless tools in tandem with corded tools (especially the vac and tool combo)? Enter the latest addition to The Explainer.

The point of the Explainers is to get to the point as fast as possible. There is a lot of text involved, but you can use the “search” function to get to just the part that answers your particular question. We know that some pictures or videos would be welcome in many of the listings (and some videos and blog posts with pictures are included in The Explainer section) but that getting just the right photo would slow the process down enormously. Updating info with the inevitable changes to products and product mixes is challenging enough.

Here is the complete list of our list of our Explainers which are also easily accessible through one of the main menu picks on our website.

Explaining with words also has made us more appreciative of explanatory signage. Here are some of our favorite signs from our showroom.

A Whole Lot of 'Splaining (Explaining the Explainer) 2

A Whole Lot of 'Splaining (Explaining the Explainer) 2

i(explain,9)
A Whole Lot of 'Splaining (Explaining the Explainer) 3

A Whole Lot of 'Splaining (Explaining the Explainer) 4

A Whole Lot of 'Splaining (Explaining the Explainer) 5

A Whole Lot of 'Splaining (Explaining the Explainer) 6

Join the conversation

10/22/2025 Randall Wright

Your store looks fascinating, and fun. Hope to visit someday, I do occasionally buy from you online
thanks

11/04/2025 Kim-Erik Häggblom

Osmos Wood Wax Finish should be applied LIGHTLY! ("Lagom", as we say in Swedish; "just the right amount" or "not too much, not too little"). Use a small amount and spread it thinly in a thin, even coat, wiping off excess immediately!

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The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the blog's author and guests and in no way reflect the views of Tools for Working Wood.

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