The King

Geeez The King has been too busy lately for fun hobby stuff.

Well, old Pops has been busy in the shop working on the TV Credenza and just hasn't had time to do any fun hobby stuff lately.  I stopped at the Bend launch ramp today and threw a few sticks for Sam.  The river is really low but is still a little murky for fishing.  A couple of more days and the Steelhead better take cover because I'm getting shop fever and ready to wet a fly.  

I'm almost done with the credenza and as soon as the finish cures I can rub it out and install all the hardware.   I plan on loading it in the trailer and showing it off to a few interior decorators in Redding and Chico.  Maybe I can find one of the 1% that rolled their fortune into gold last year before the tumble.   I'll post some photos when I get it put together.  If my name was Sam Maloof I would price it at $8000 but old Pops will probably price it at $1800.  This project has taught me a lot about finishing and hopefully it will payoff.  It is really cool when you can close your eyes and run your hand across the top and actually think you are feeling a glass top.  The process starts by gluing up five boards on edge and then scraping and sanding with 100 grit sandpaper to remove the glue squeeze out.  Next I took the top down to a local cabinet shop and paid them $25 to send it through their $15,000 wide belt sander, 80 grit and then 150 grit.  It comes out of the wide belt sander totally flat.  I took it back to the shop and raised the grain and sanded it to 180 grit.  I was going to dye (stain) with medium Mission brown dye but after many test runs I decided that leaving the wood natural showed the grain the best.  Next came about ten coats of vinyl catalyzed lacquer.   After the finish cures for about four days the hand rubbing starts.  Hand rubbing is basically wet sanding the finish with progressively smaller grit until the surface is polished to a deep shine.  You use mineral oil or soapy water as a lubricant and start sanding with 320 grit.  When looking at the top at an angle you can still see dust dimples and imperfections so the process starts again as you work the top over with 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1500 and finally 2000 grit.  It's a good thing I have already had carpel tunnel surgery.  2000 grit will give a glass smooth finish that looks about a foot deep.  When this project is finished I will post it on another website showing all the methods and techniques that went into this high end piece of furniture.  As a comparison most furniture has one seal coat and two or three coats of lacquer.  I can't wait to finish this one.  

The photo above was taken at Skyler's birthday party.  Thanks for the fun time Skyler.