Crib Arrives in Seattle

After our trip through California and Oregon, visiting family and friends along the way, we made it to Seattle and delivered the crib to Rich & Jen.  We're having a wonderful time seeing the sights and helping out on some minor household chores.  The crib is set up in "peanuts" nursery, the mattress and crib sheet are  ready for his arrival!  There is so much to do here, everything from eating (one of my favorites), shopping, and visiting tourist "must sees" like Pikes Market, Seattle Art Museum, and the Center for Wooden Boats.

Update and a OMG!

Now that I finished the crib for my daughter and her husband I got started on the gesso process of the latest picture frame.  I had been working on the carving between coats of shellac and other finishing touches on the frame.  Well, I got an email last night that pretty much blew me away!!  The chair that I have been working on for several years was accepted into the 29th Design in Wood competition.  This takes place during the San Diego County Fair which opens June 11th.  I really feel honored that I was juried in.  The design started several years ago and a couple of prototypes later, this is my final result:

 It's made of Canarywood and is one of a set of six that go with the Dutch Pull Out dining table I made right after I retired.  There are ebony accents in the through tenons for the back stretchers and also buttons to cover the screws that secure the laminated back.  My design concept was to use large dovetails on the front stretcher and the chairs have been in use for quite a while now with no sign of joint problems.  I initially made a outdoor bench this way and I like the honest look of exposed joinery.  It's been out in the Las Vegas elements for 6-8 years and is holding up fine.

Crib's Done!!

     Whenever a project is finished there's always a case of those "postpartum blues" which is something Jennifer will probably go through at the end of September.  Never having been pregnant I've only experienced it after completing an ultra race or finishing a project.  For that time, you were focused on completing whatever your goal was. That's what you spent your waking (and sometimes sleeping) brain power on and now that your goal has been reached, you're left with a little sadness.  Times like that I like to think about where you've come from, the starting point.  That's shown in the first picture.  From several board feet of Maple we ended up with this.
      Finally able to get a half way decent shot of how the cap pieces have some of the most astounding grain I've ever seen in Curly/Birdseye Maple.  Can't wait to deliver it and see a grandson in it.

         Congratulations Richard & Jennifer                                  
                                      
  

Jennifer, look familiar?

See that piece of towel on the back end of your (and my grandsons) crib?  Does it look at all familiar to you?  It's never been said that I waste stuff or get rid of it quickly which is probably the Dutch in me!  Remember how we would make  cardboard mannequins and dress them to give a gift on Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays, etc. Hey, anybody can put stuff in a box!  Well, one Father's Day you and your mom put a towel on top of the hood of our blue Toyota pickup, had a beach chair with my presents on the mannequin.  Probably shorts and a t-shirt but the towel said #1 DAD.  The piece I used to wipe off the wax on your crib was a remnant of that towel -- pretty cool huh?  Oh yeah, this is a pretty good shot of the top cap on the crib, it almost looks more like a piece of stone than a piece of wood.  I'm ready to assemble it and take some photos of it all done.  Hope you like it.  I should be putting the completed pictures on the blog in a day or two.

A Definite Learning Curve

      In the photo at the right you can see both ends of the crib as you're looking across one of the gates.  At this point you should be able to notice the chatoyance I keep talking about in the middle panel on the ends.  The top caps of these is even more spectacular.
      Although I'm admittedly "computer resistant"  I do find that doing this blog is making me less so.  Another wonderful thing the computer has allowed is access to an unlimited amount of information.  This is the first project that I've attempted shellac on other than the insides of drawers and cabinets.  In that application I'd just buy Zinser Bullseye, thin it somewhat with denatured alcohol and use a pad to apply several coats.  Easy enough and it accomplished what I wanted -- no odors and a degree of protection and finish.  Well, I must say that doing a project like this is completely different.  Not sure if an important project like this was a wise choice to learn on but I'm inspired and don't give up on much of anything!
     After reading in a couple of books and getting advice from Ron at Shellac.net I was ready.  The process is to brush a light coat on, flow is the word most often used, and not back brush.  The denatured alcohol evaporates quickly so if your timing is off and you brush back, the shellac will pull up and leave a mess.  I thought I'd done alright until I turned the gates over and had all of these little runs on most of the 56 slats.
No other choice at that point but to sand and scrape to remove all of the blemishes.  I called Ron and asked for a little more advice and basically he told me you can't treat shellac like you would treat paint.  It simply cannot be brushed out and if needed I could reduce to a 1 pound cut.  It's like painting with water.  I took that into consideration and did a couple of more searches.  Some things stood out more than others but the one that really hit home was this quote: "until you rub it out, a shellac finish will look like crap!".  Who ever wrote that must of been in the shop, looking over my shoulder.  Armed with that information and resolve I've since applied three coats and it's looking much better.  The best method seems to be to have an almost dry brush, the beauty of the shellac is that the new coat will redissolve the prior coat.  Ways to rub it out range from a 400 grit sandpaper, 4/0 steel wool, or the traditional way of rottenstone and mineral oil.  Looking at all of the slats and nooks and crannies I'm going for the steel wool with Liberon wax for the final finish.  The plan is to apply at least 4 more coats before the rub out.
      This way of finishing is going to add to my list of stuff I can do.  The majority of my furniture work is with Watco Danish Oil and a three part top coat that is hand sanded and rubbed into the piece.  Shellac is quite a change from that and after 30 years or so of doing what I've been doing; this "old dog" is going to learn a new trick!

First Shellac

      Yesterday I applied the first coat of shellac and just as I thought -- lots of time will be spent here getting all of the nooks and crannies! I also signed the piece for posterity.  It was really nice working with shellac that I made myself from flakes.  It's a very light one called Platina and really brings out the grain, especially on the caps.  Speaking of the caps let me share what trick I used to attach them to the crib ends.

As usual, picture needs some explanation but you're looking at the top of one of the ends.  The Walnut is screwed/glued to the crib end but then the plans called for simply gluing and clamping the cap piece on.  Well, trying to clamp and position one piece on top of another precisely is like trying to catch one of the carp at the Lake Mead Marina with your bare hands.  Jennifer and I used to go feed them popcorn and you may be able to touch them but control them and put them where you want  --- no way!  What I did was to clamp the two pieces together dry and drill two 1/4" holes.  The hole goes completely through the walnut but only partially through the maple.  After the walnut cap was securely glued/screwed to the end it was easy to apply glue, line up the maple and clamp it down tight.

Well, it's back to the shop to lightly sand the first coat of shellac and get ready to apply the next 5 or 6.

Stanley # 80

     There are many times that I think some of the older, traditional tools will out perform the modern ones.  Working on the crib and the Hard Maple has provided many opportunities to test my theory! The legs were a perfect example of this.  They measure 1 1/2" x 2 1/4" and it seems that each one had a bit of grain reversing somewhere in their 40+" length.  Even using a smooth plane pulled the grain up so chose the Stanley.  It's hard to tell but the shavings you can achieve with this thing are so fine and delicate.  I'd much rather use it creating fine shavings and a smooth surface than sanding and creating dust and noise.  Getting pretty close to starting to do the finish work, all that remains is attaching the caps to the tops of each end.