Project #2: Complete
Okay, well, this is overdue, but I’m finally getting down to it. When I last left off, I was about to sand. Here’s the 80-grit sanding, which takes off the patterns.
I use a variety of foam sanding blocks. They are made to use with self-stick sandpaper, but I also use them with no-stick sandpaper and just hold it onto the block. I realized, though, that the curved one I use with the 80 grit may be doing me a disservice because of the curve go it. I found that parts of the design and wood ended up higher than others, and I think it might be from that unevenness. I may switch to the flatter yellow one, which I use with the 120 grit, for all sanding steps.
I worked through the several levels of sandpaper, and found that the swarf filled in some of the gaps, so I thought maybe they’d be fine once oiled. I would have to wait and see. I also found that my new magnifying lamp, through which this picture was taken, helped me see a lot of little scratches I might’ve missed otherwise. I found that superglue seeps in deeper than I would’ve expected, which adds to the sanding time and effort. Perhaps I’ll try to more discriminating as I apply it, and save myself some work in the long run.
This piece was inlaid into a piece of maple that was overlong, so I had to cut off the excess. (I decided to use the remainder for practice project #3, which is going to be a hand-drawn vine motif dealio, as if on a fingerboard.) I think a real circular saw is in my future. My little one sucks—it doesn’t have much depth. I may have to start using the suggestion Phaedrous made about using the sacrifice wood. As you can see here, there’s a lot of splintering.
So I sanded the rough edges, and all the other ones, too, to give them the slightest bevel, and here is the piece, ready for finishing.
I used Formby’s Tung Oil Finish, which is a mixture of Tung oil and mineral oils, I think; it’s not pure Tung oil. Oil finishes are simple, if not particularly rugged finishes, but seeing as this piece will live a relatively unrugged life as a paperweight, it’s enough for me right now. I’ve read my finishing book, and it could get a lot more complicated. I don’t need more complicated at this stage of the game. Ultimately, when I reach my goal of doing instruments, I will have to learn how to refinish the area I worked on identical to the original finish. I’m not sure how fingerboards are finished anyway. I bet my luthiery book will tell me.
I rubbed in 2 coats, letting it dry overnight in each case. When I brought it into work, I noticed some swirl marks that looked like smears, so I brought it home, scuffed it a little with 0000 steel wool, and put one more layer on it. I haven’t examined it yet to see if that solved the problem which was, admittedly minor.
I took pictures that night, but the light in the garage wasn’t great, and a flash makes it wash out, so I took more out on the driveway before work Friday morning, in natural light. Are you ready?
I’m pretty pleased with it. Some of the routing is nice and tight, which means I can do it if I focus. The oil did, in fact, get into the dust in the gaps and darkened it, so I’m not too excited about that. It calls attention to the errors, but I suppose there’s no avoiding that other than to avoid the errors in the first place. I love the Tung oil finish; it makes the maple so warm, and it has depth when you turn it. There’s a term for that—chatoyance, from the French, meaning “having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light.” Love that. (Did I mention I’m a geek?)
So project #2 comes to an end, and I learned a lot—from my mistakes, as usual. But I have both projects sitting on my desk at work, and it makes me happy just to see them. Now I need to get cracking on a design for project #3. It will have to take into account the sizes and shapes of the materials I have, and because of the design, I will likely be routing several cavities instead of one big one that I put all the pieces into. Good times, good times.
