Before returning to the table build, here’s a pic of the finalized arrangement of two 55 gallon drums under a pants wye at the end of the cyclone, carrying forward what was described in the preceding post about the revamping of my dust collection system:
An amusing thing happened when I turned it on for the first time. The two drums were placed about 8″ apart from one another, and when the system was powered up the suction was sufficient to lift the empty drums very slightly and cause them to slide close together until they touched. Now that’s suction! The revamped system seems more powerful with greater CFM rate, however it also seems slightly louder too. I plan to build a sound-deadening enclosure around the motor and impeller assembly soon enough. I’m happy with the results of the changes made to the system. This should serve me for a good while.
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With the side table build, things are now moving into the finishing work, which commenced with a new finish I am using:
I decided to move away from oil-based finishes with metallic dryers, like Waterlox, etc.. After the Colorado window making course a couple of months back, I saw the benefits of the newer types of water-based finishes, especially the minimal VOCs and easy clean-up of brushes, etc., with soap and warm water. I also like the getting away from the hazard posed with oil based finishes in terms of the disposal of oily rags. Water-based finished dry by contact with the air, rather then through the agency of metallic driers.
Also, after reading Bob Flexner’s books on finishing, I came to see finishes a bit differently, and realized that any finish I was going to be using contained resins, and the type of resin that dries hardest, and yellows the least over time, is one that is (poly)urethane based. Waterlox, by comparison, uses a phenolic resin base. General Finishes Enduro-Var has an added component so it imparts a slight amber tone, which I was thinking would impart a slight darkening to the bubinga. I also liked the quick drying time of this product as compared to oil-based finishes I have been using in the past.
So far, yesterday I put one coat on the legs, stretchers, and apron parts. Today I sanded those parts with #320 paper, and had no problems with clogging. It cut cleanly and easily. So far so good.
So, a second coat now on the legs, aprons, and stretchers:
It was a super overcast grey day today, with steady rain, so the lighting was rather dim and everything looked a bit dull when I snapped the photo, for reference’s sake.
I then got into a session of finish planing the table top:
Quartersawn curly bubinga is something I prefer to tackle with the 60˚ single blade kanna, my dear friend Mr. Tenkei:
The top edge of the top and the breadboard ends have also been chamfered (not shown).
A while later, the top was into its first coat of finish:
At the end of the day I had a few more parts getting into the finishing round, like the drawer floor panel:
And the drawer walls, the dust panels, and the rear demountable panel:
Moving along steadily. the next few shop days will be pretty much a repetition of today’s work.
Thanks for your visit. Post 37 anyone?