Friday 27 January 2012

Let the finishing begin…

The Sikkens stain I purchased turned up today, along with 100 pairs of rather fetching purple gloves, so armed with these I’m ready to start finishing…

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I find it helps to have everything to hand before starting, and with this many pieces to do (35 at last count) it’ll take a while. I’ve already put a sealer coat on, and am planning on 3 coats of the Sikkens product before final assembly.

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Here’s a closer look at the parts – I’d forgotten to remove the brass feet I added to the front legs here so had to remove these before I got going. I thought this would add a nice extra touch to the chair, and also keep the moisture a little bit further away from the chair too.

After some while I have all pieces covered with one coat…

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The Cetol finish I’ve put on should last a good few years and was easy to apply with just a rag. I bought mine from Decorating Direct who delivered it superbly wrapped – it took me quite a while to extricate the tin from its wrapping.

Now I just have a few more hours of finishing to do over the coming evenings.

Sunday 22 January 2012

Sanding done

This evening I spent all my time in the workshop sanding with a random orbital sander, and progressing from 80 through 120, 180 and 240 grits. It’s now ready for finishing!

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Every piece has been across the bench from left to right (being sanded on the way) then back again (with a different grit). It took a while but will be worth it. Now I’m waiting for the finish to turn up that I ordered.

Saturday 21 January 2012

A new project

My wife has been asking for an Adirondack chair for years (probably 15 or so), and now that I have a suitable place to build one in I could put it off no longer.

It’ll be the 21st anniversary of when we first met in February, so I’ve made a good start and aim to get this done by then. If it’s a few days late it can always be a Valentines day present instead.

Here’s the armrests after a good sand…

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I’ve also test fitted the base and back tonight too…

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Like most workshops it’s always a battle with space. Now I have a *load* of sanding to do!

Monday 9 January 2012

Drawer Fronts

I’m lucky enough to have a whole load of Iroko so I decided this would be nice as some drawer fronts…

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These are just roughly attached at the moment, I need to think up what I’ll do for handles.

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Safe Tools

I’ve a bunch of tools that are very special to me and so I don’t want to lose them – my 10th Birthday present was a plane which was stolen some years back, and since then I’ve not wanted to lose anything else, especially as now I’m the custodian of my late fathers tools.

So it was time to get something sturdy, and over a couple of months last year I managed to get just the thing. They’re now installed in my workshop and filled with tools.

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The big on on the right is massive – I could stand up in it before I put everything in, I reckon you could get 4 average sized people in without too much bother. It was a fair old lump to get into place but I had some help and it’s never moving again!

The left hand one is for my less precious tools (there’s a hierarchy going on, you have to be good to get in the large safe). I wonder if other woodworkers have a similar categorisation of their tools…