Finishing doesn't mean hiding
In conventional work, varnish comes at the end. It protects, evens things out and gives the piece that respectable look of an object that won't be subjected to any more experiments.
At LaserCrafts, that order doesn't always exist.
A finish may need to survive the laser, preserve relief, keep the feel of the wood or let the surface return to the workbench without turning into a plastic film.
That changes how a product is assessed. Shine stops being the main question.
The test that really matters
If a finish kills the texture, reacts badly to heat or turns an interesting surface into something generic, it doesn't work — even if the label says “professional”.
Testing continues until the finish does its job without erasing everything that happened before it.
The recipe stays in the workshop. The definition can leave:
Varnish isn't finishing. It's stabilising the mistake.