New project with belt sander

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Yeah, she was holding the 4"or 6"bit of glass at about a 33 degree angle and scraping the surface. Disclaimer: I haven't tried it myself, but her and the job she was doing looked pretty darn good.

I think a hand planer would leave tiger stripes on the surface as it takes a fair bit off.

I would be concerned with the glass chipping. Then I'd be concerned that is cut myself or the glad would be embedded in the wood.

A smoother (size 3 or 4) hand plane can take super fine shavings (measured in the single digit thousandths of an inch) and leave a smooth surface with no stripes if it's setup correctly and sharp.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I wonder why she didn't just use a regular steel cabinet scraper card?

Interesting concept, though. I might have to give it a try one day.

I'm guessing the glass doesn't require you to know how to get an edge on a scraper which is probably tough for the average Joe.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by zakthor

Started with the benches so practice before the main event.

80 wasnt enough so tried 50 and finally 36 grit. The 36 tears up the wood but makes good progress. For giggles i brought surface up through the grits 50, 80, 120, 180 then 220 on random orbital. Surface ends up feeling like a slab of steel.

But I had to take a lot more wood off a bench to get to the bottom of some hatchet marks (that were there when it was new), and i uncovered a huge void. Tried to fill with epoxy but it would need gallons. And realized one side of the bench is constructed around that big void. Next i poured 12 oz in, taped the hole and inverted bench, next morning it was a surface. I need to wait some days for it to cure.

Today i started on the table with the 36 and it went so fast, maybe 30 minutes and the big gouge is gone. Started on the 50 but it was my last belt and it wore out so more tomorrow.

Really something how much harder sapwood is than the regular stuff. Can see the big gouge in original pic is gone now.

Whats neat is once material is removed each grit takes a few minutes. Check carefully that i got all the scratches then swap belts.

Cant wait to try the osmo. I called them and guy recommended the extra thin fir first coat, then a layer of gloss polyx.

Edit: oh and i forgot to say wow the sanding frame is great. It aggressively sands any rises, ignores low spots so table is much more flat than when i started. Sanding frame good!

Looks and sounds like a great journey that's giving you great results. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[911 Rod]

Makes me want to find stuff I can sand!

[zakthor]

Wiped the benches down with mineral spirits, let dry then painted on the coat of the extra thin clear. Let sit an hour and gave it a wipe. Wooo! This is pretty excellent. So much color. Some of the grain is doing a 3d thing.



Tempted to do the table too asap but figure i should stick with the plan and see the benches through first. Tomorrow the benches will get a coat of the polyx gloss.

[zakthor]

Benches came out great.

First coat of extra thin went on great. Dried great. Waited 24 hours and applied a thin coat of the polyx gloss. Temp fell down to 40 or so. Checked it 4 hours later and it was pretty goopy. Put a fan on it overnight but in the morning it was the same puddles of sticky.

Ive seen this before, coating isnt being accepted.

I got out the mineral oil and wiped as much off as i could.

Was it going to be fine and im just an impatient scaredy cat? No idea.

Good news its a lovely surface, is just so smooth. Good news its drying well now even on a dark and rainy 45f day. Bad news theres some shiny sections where the stuff did dry and it resists my scrubbing with mineral oil.

Reading folks say this happens sometimes with oily hardwoods, especially after the first coat theres no more pores to stick to and it lies on the surface. I thought it worked great for the benches, not sure why the table gave me guff.

Ill look with fresh eyes in the summer, sand and re-apply if its needed.

Bad light right now. Can kind of see the shiny scabs in the first pic.




This whole project was a lot easier than i expected. Bummer that the finish failed at the very end. Maybe ill learn something from it.

Now wait 2-3 weeks to cure and we can start wrecking it with curry and beer.

For kicks heres the before and after

[TimT]

Looks really nice..

I can't help but think the temperatures affected the outcome of the finish.. Try and apply some heat if you can

[Bill Douglas]

It looks fantastic. Well done. Yeah, give it time to cure

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Beautiful transformation, great job!

[zakthor]

Ok its finally warm again in seattle and surface has had time to reflect on its misdeeds.

I sanded the surface off the table and benches with 220, wiped with mineral spirits, then a day apart i applied a pair of thin coats of the osmo extra clear using microfiber towel.

Maybe 20 minutes to sand and 20 minutes total to wipe the stuff on/off. Im happy with it. The extra clear finish is nice and drys fast so im not even going to try the polyx.

Im very happy with how little time it took to redo the coating - exactly what i wanted.



Surface feels fantastic but wow with the wiping i am noticing all the dust that settles on it every day. Now just got to christen the thing with a lamb curry and beers.

[rfuerst911sc]

Very nice work . Congratulations

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by john70t

One trick I've read of is to lightly wet the surface of raw wood and sand at a ~45deg with fine sandpaper to knock that down.
Can't think too much into it. Looks great!

By 3d I mean its an optical illusion from the coating refracting differently into each eye. The surface is smooth like a piece of glass.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by zakthor

Ok its finally warm again in seattle and surface has had time to reflect on its misdeeds.

I sanded the surface off the table and benches with 220, wiped with mineral spirits, then a day apart i applied a pair of thin coats of the osmo extra clear using microfiber towel.

Maybe 20 minutes to sand and 20 minutes total to wipe the stuff on/off. Im happy with it. The extra clear finish is nice and drys fast so im not even going to try the polyx.

Im very happy with how little time it took to redo the coating - exactly what i wanted.



Surface feels fantastic but wow with the wiping i am noticing all the dust that settles on it every day. Now just got to christen the thing with a lamb curry and beers.

Spectacular! It's beautiful. Congrats!