Pew Project Postdate

It has been decided that the pews are to be completely stripped and refinished to a pristine, like-new appearance.  I'm not up to that task for a couple of reasons.

One is that I suspect they are finished in catalyzed lacquer.  Catalyzed lacquer finishes are well known for chemical resistance. They have an acid catalyst added to the lacquer that causes the molecules to crosslink together much, much tighter (ie, a stronger chemical bond) than regular nitrocellulose or CAB acrylic lacquers.This is great for producing a durable, low maintenance finish - but hell to get off.  The best way I've found is sandblasting.

Another is the goal of "pristine".  These are old pews that have been heavily used.  There are some deep scratches, a few gouges and dings that will have to be filled and re-grained.  At one time I had the tools to do a decent job of such work, but those dried up years ago.

There is also an issue of staples.  I pulled out all the steel staples - in many cases this meant digging them out of the wood a bit, making a little more damage to repair - but there are also quite  few copper staples in that unfinished band that are set right at or barely below the surface of the wood. Trying to leverage them up and pull them out results in snapping them off every time.  This leaves a sharp nub that is too small to grab hold of with pliers and too soft to set below the surface with a nail set, it just curls over on the surface.  Sanding with emory cloth might smooth them flush to the wood, but the legs of the staples will remain in the wood and digging them up out of the wood will create a lot of pits to repair.

No, I don't think I'm up for getting these to "pristine" condition.  But they do make an interesting little seating bench.  They are quite heavy, so quite stable and the bible rack is still on the back side to retain that church pew flavor.  I'm sure once someone equipped to do a good job of finish restoration is done with them they'll make a very nice addition to Tammy's home.  Pricy, but nice.

Tuesday, April 24th

Today I returned to the Pew Project (among several other chores) by removing the fabric & padding, removing an end piece and cutting the bench down to length.  I also pulled out about a bazillion staples.  There are many left, but they are all at or below the surface; to get them out I'll have to dig them out enough to get a hold on them with pliers.

It is still undecided how these are to be finished/refinished.  The owner isn't sure if she wants them "touched up" but left with the original finish or stripped and done over. 

Bag Handles

Just completing 6 pair of cherry bag handles.

Friday, March 23rd

My woodworking time today allowed me to get the stand sanded and finished.  Then I discovered (remembered) that I did not poly the table tops on the set I had on hand.  Most of the time we do this to protect them against careless use - but we do get some requests from furniture purists who don't want their furniture plastic coated, they prefer to treat it like fine furniture and enjoy the lacquer finish alone.

The folks who ordered this set did not say anything about that so I'd best poly the tables.

It is spring in the Smokies, so it's raining.  It does that for about a month.  The high humidity makes everything dry more slowly, but I should be able to get these tables packed this weekend and ready to ship out on Monday.

Thursday March 22nd

This afternoon I finished the finish sanding, this evening I'm shooting lacquer.  But, it's raining, so the lacquer is drying very slowly.  It's a;most 10:00 PM, I'm going to have to head home or get locked out for the night!!

Wednesday, March 21st

Wednesdays are always busy days around here, but this one was especially so as this nebulous and unpredictable thing called life interrupted.  I did not get as much as I had hoped done on the stand, but did make some pretty good progress.  I completed all the parts making and got the stand assembled.

Now come all the sanding and finishing work.  But it's getting quite late; I'll get a fresh start on this tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 20th

My woodworking time today was spent milling parts blanks for the TV Tray Table Set I'm working on.
This involved taking the rough-cut chunks of board from yesterday, using the jointer to flatten one face and edge, the surface planer to smooth the opposite face and bring the wide faces parallel to one another and the part to proper thickness, then finally trim the blank to proper width and length on the table saw.

The templates are then used to lay out the shape of the parts on the blanks.  I use masking tape in critical areas - those were I will be drawing shapes - because pencil lead does not show up well on dark woods like walnut.

I also punch centers for holes that are to be bored.  With all that done, it's a good point to stop for the night.  (it's 9:00 anyway; late enough since I'll to be up at 4:00 tomorrow) We'll pick it up from here tomorrow.