My Journey in Writing, Ranting, and Woodworking

Since we last saw our woodworking hero, he has done some finishing.  Ok, I have already gotten tired of this narration, and after only one sentence.  That is the sort of day it has been.

I finished 6 boxes with Tung oil last night and learned several things.  The most important is that though the difference between the finished and unfinished boxes is substantial in person, it doesn’t show up in the photograph.  What does this tell us?  It demonstrates quite clearly that I need to play around with the lighting.  Sadly, I waited to the last minute to take the picture and have run out of time for tonight.  I just assumed I would get it right on the first try, and so I am being punished for my hubris.

It is you the reader who has to suffer.  I am sorry.  But trust me, the box on the left, is much nicer than the one on the right.  I also learned another valuable lesson.  One of the methods for filling in grain, is to sand while the wood is wet with the finish.  One must use wet/dry sandpaper for this task  (you know, the black sandpaper).  I have some 3M sanding sponges.  On the box it says, and I quote, “Rinse and reuse”.  I then made the leap that they were the same as wet/dry sandpaper, and tried one out on the box on the left.

There is a straight line near the corner, that is not grain, but a mark from the pad.  I will need to sand this away and refinish the box to fix this blunder.  I have said it before, and I choose to say it again, that is the point of doing a big batch.  I learned a valuable lesson and now that I am almost done with my boxes, I feel like I could go from start to finish, quickly and accurately.  The first box took 3 weeks.  This batch of 12 has taken about the same amount of time, and I have included splines and finish.

I have been thinking about my next project.  I may try building a lamp.  I may try another box.  It is unlikely that I will try a Chippendale Highboy, as my skills still need a few more years of honing (read 23 years).  So I need to get back to work, fix the box on the left and finish the remaining boxes.  Then all of the boxes and I will have a meeting and decide which ones are interested in volunteering for an adventure (read going to a new home).  There have been a couple of people who have expressed interest in buying a tiny box, so I will probably put a few different ones up for sale.  I will try to make enough available for anyone who wants one. I suspect that the vast majority of my readers, being woodworkers, would get far more satisfaction from building their own, but for those who would like an ‘Extremely Average’ box, I will do my best to make everyone happy.