Legs for the workbench...

It's been a while since I've updated this thing. We've been converting a dining room into an office, and fixing up the house some. So there's not been time for woodwork. I do have some news, though. The gentleman at the sawmill left me a voice mail and told me he had the walnut cut up for the legs of my workbench. It's currently in the kiln. So in a few weeks, I'll be able to take my workbench off of those saw horses and get it on a more stable surface. Finally.

I took the summer off

Without even meaning to!  I keep up with woodworking podcasts, forums, etc.  I always marveled at the guys/gals that said "oh I take the summer off", or "I only do woodwork when it's the cool seasons".  I thought "How can they live with themselves"?  Well, now I know.  I accidentally took the summer off from woodworking.  I didn't even mean to.  It just kinda happened.  I'd like to blame the dining room to office remodel... but that'd be a lie.  I was just too busy to even sneak in a weekend here or there.  Well, it seems as the cool weather of fall is coming, I can get back into the garage.  First I have to clean it!  What a mess.  I still have to finish up the office, but all that is left is to wash the walls, spackle & paint.  Should be a fairly easy weekend.  We'll see.

Woodworking during the summer...

I was always curious about the guys/gals in woodworking forums that talked about taking the summer off. Some say heat is the reason, others time. I've not had to deal with either of those in the past. This summer, though, is totally different. The heat does not bother me. I've lived in Alabama all my life, I'm used to July & August heat. It's the time that I'm having trouble with. This is the first summer where I've been so busy I couldn't get to my woodwork. That's ok, I've been having fun all the same. Keep checking the blog, eventually I'll get back to the cabinet, the workbench, and maybe even that small tack box.

I'm not dead...

I'm just busy. Too busy to get into the garage. One day I'll make it back to my ugly cabinet, legless wordkbench, and 2 sided tack box.

New camera!

Finally got a new camera. I'll try and take pics of the really, really... really red cabinet tonight.

Not much lately...

I've been so busy the last month I've not had time for woodwork. Hopefully, that will change soon. I plan on getting back to painting the Krenov Cabinet and finishing up the small box.

Busy day today...

I got an early start this morning and it payed off. I started out doing the quick 220 light sanding on the cabinet. I was sanding the seal coat in preparation for the dye. Once I had everything sanded I mixed up the dye. I'm using W.D. Lockwood Oil Dye (Brown Walnut). The instructions on the Tools For Working Wood web site said to mix it with a little bit of denatured alcohol and some oil. So I mixed it with a little alcohol and some mineral oil. Luckily, I was smart enough to to test it out on the back of the cabinet. It took a little while to get used to how quick it dried. Once I got it down, though, it was a breeze to use. I know everyone one says if you're using an oil dye you're supposed to spray it. But I don't have a sprayer, and I didn't want to use a water based dye. So I took a chance on wiping it using a rag. All in all, I think it turned out much better than the gel stain. Still not perfect, but I like to think it would've been twice as good if i had not gel stained it first. It looks similar to the gel stain, but it's different some how. If/when I get a camera I'll be sure to post pics.

While the cabinet was drying, I decided to work on the tack box a little. I got the front and back panel glued up. I got to use the mitre box my grandfather gave me. I'm still amazed at how accurate and easy that thing is to use. So, at this point the dye & glue are drying.

While I'm still waiting on something to dry. I decided to clean up my table saw. There were a couple of rust spots starting. I used 600 grit to sand off the surface rust, and made sure the entire top was clean. I then applied a coat of Johnson's Paste Wax. Guess what, I had to let it dry too.

So now, I have dye, glue, and was drying. What to do? I used some 220 & 600 grit to clean up 3 of the hand saws my grandfather gave me. The cleaned up really nice. Took me a while because some were pitted, but for the most part they came out good.

By this time the paste wax had dried so I buffed it out. Now the table saw is ready for duty.