This paper describes different wood finishes and compares their use on wood outdoors in the United States and Western Europe. The primary aim was exchange of information and to make comparisons. Apart from different traditions in wood as an outdoor building material, there are interesting differences in protective and decorative finishes. Latex paints are generally not much used in Europe, but extensively so in the United States. Also, solid color (opaque) stains are widely used in the United States but rarely in Europe, despite obvious advantages. In Europe, semi-transparent stains based on oil-modified alkyd resins are often film-forming and play an important role as natural finishes for millwork. In the United States, semitransparent stain finishes are also oil-or alkyd-based but have lower viscosity oils or alkyd resins and are usually penetrating so no surface film forms. A comparison study has been initiated between the Wood Section at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL). Outdoor finishes available commercially are being evaluated on test fences in Madison, Wisconsin, and Dübendorf, Switzerland, on commonly used American and European woods. -- AATA