Davids for Tom

[publicIdaho]

After the main sanding was done with the air sander, I had to move on to a little less aggressive sander.

By the way, I used wood putty to fill my holes, dents, and dings. Bondo style filler is better for sure, but I did not have any, and I am very familiar with the downfalls of putty and how to overcome them. Some tips:

Blow your holes, nicks, etc. out with an air hose. Dust in there makes things not work.
If you are doing a high gloss finish, fill every teeny tiny thing you can see. If you can see it in the raw wood, it will really jump out at you in the finish. As my dad likes to say "The sander knows most, but the finisher knows all."
Wood putty shrinks when it dries. Put it on so that it is sitting proud of the wood and then sand it flat.

I used to just reach a finger into the can and spread the putty into the holes with said finger. I now use a thin putty knife. It is not as good a tool as your finger, but I have really come to be wary of getting stuff with organic solvents on my skin. Benzines, toluenes, etc. are just nasty. They cause central nervous system damage and you should minimize your exposure to them.

The pad sander shown is another Bosch tool. We go through a couple of these pad sanders every year and a half or so. We have used Mikita, Milwaukee, and Porter Cable sanders, they all have worn out, well except the Porter Cable, it was too big and bulky so it did not wear out over on the counter. The Bosch sanders we like as well as any of them and they are pretty reasonable.

We use self sticking paper that comes on a roll. It is pretty good stuff and easy to use. We avoid the hook and loop stuff like the plague.

[publicIdaho]

Here is a shot of the sand paper dispenser we use for the pad sanders. You should try to keep this away from high dust areas because the sticky back that is exposed will get full of dust and not stick to your sander.

I must say that I was very pleased with how well the cabinets came out as I was sanding them. This is not an easy build and I tried a few new things out on this project. I am especially happy with the way the 45° side pieces fit and the edges when they were rounded over. Very satisfying to sand away on something that looks pretty good.

[publicIdaho]

The boxes were rotated many times, a bit more putty added here and there and then rotate around so that it has a chance to dry before sanding it off. Once they passed final sanding inspection, each box went on to a cart. Being set on a cart means that they are ready to hit the spray room! (After a good dose of air hose to blow off the dust.)

[publicIdaho]

Shoot, missed another picture...

When I was rounding over the edges, I ran into a piece that had a split. I was able to get a fingernail into the split, gently pry it open and work some wood glue into the crack. Then it was lightly clamped and I worked on the other cabinet while the glue dried - enough.

[publicIdaho]

On to the spray room!

The spray room is just a shed on the side of the building that is not insulated and has no heat. It has a big fan to draw the air out and the big roll up door is left open. It was in the low 40's here today, so it was the same temperature in the spray room. Not ideal at all to spray in. Some might say it is a very bad idea. It sucks but what can I do, wait for the end of May?

In order to spray at this temperature, I have to thin my lacquer much more than usual. One other important thing is patience. The stuff takes so much longer to dry and set up.

Here are the cabinets up on the table to ready for spray.

[publicIdaho]

Here is a shot of my messy work space with a few interesting things.

First is the respirator mask which is kind of hard to see. It has a paper towel taped to the bottom where the air exits. I have to do this because when it gets cold like it is here, condensation really builds up and will begin to drip out of the bottom air vent. Having water drip out of your mask right on to your freshly sprayed piece is another thing will make you say very bad words - lots of them even.

I cannot stress this enough - when you are working around organic volatiles, wear a respirator! Have extra carbon cartridges around and change them out regularly. Store your mask in a bag or two to extend the life of your cartridges. Looking at old timer painters, if they did not rigorously wear a mask, they are probably not playing with all their marbles.

I am kind of worried about my marbles - made more mistakes on this project than I care to admit to. Used to be pretty good at getting things right the first time...

Second item to notice is the fan. That fan blows right at our drying rack where we put freshly sprayed doors. Raising the temperature will help things dry faster, but air movement is the drying king. Super important when it gets cold. It is so easy not to wait long enough for the finish to dry before you start working on your piece again and totally mangle your finish.

The fun thing in the photo is the stir stick. I don't know how many coats of finish are on it, but it is a bunch. My son wanted to take it home and try to get his little brother to eat it like one of the big candy things they have at Disneyland.

[publicIdaho]

One coat of catalyzed vinyl sanding sealer.

[publicIdaho]

Almost tempted to leave them this way, they look kind of cool.

[Harley]

Shaping up very nicely indeed!

[Bas Gooiker]

Awsome build and great build thread...
I envy your skills and techniques. I am defenedly going to steal some of your ideas and way of working.

[Tom Smit]

Almost tempted to leave them this way, they look kind of cool.

Absolutely! I was hoping that you would just clear-coat them, what with the fancy edges, and all that sanding and wood filler. Painting is, well, anybody can put paint on the wood (it hides the flaws).

[publicIdaho]

Tempting, but look at this - and this was my first attempt at black lacquer 20 years ago, I have gotten a little better since then. Actually, I am thinking that if I do this project black, I can use this as an excuse to refinish my old babies.

[But it Hertz]

Wow, these look great. I like the edges

[DJPhatman]

Why not a combination of the two?

Piano black with wood-grain accents.... Mmmmm, tasty!

[publicIdaho]

Wow, these look great. I like the edges

I love the 1" round over on those old timers. Unfortunately on the new speakers, a 1" round over might create a bit of an air leak problem. The old speakers are made out of inch thick MDF with lots of internal bracing - makes them hard to steal at least.

Now that I am getting into the finishing, I am really wanting to refinish my old speakers. They got wet in an aquarium related accident and the there was damage at the bottom (notice I did not take that picture all the way to the floor.)

Now to get them out of the lower level of the house - I am betting they weigh ~ 200 lbs. each. Maybe I can get the 4-wheeler around the back with the trailer on it...