WC Weekend Accomplishments....

not quite accomplishment....

Henry (Raleigh NC)

Well Dennis, for me the accomplishment was simply getting out in the shop. After a muscle strain in my back sidelined me for almost 4 months, I was thrilled to able to stand long enough to do anything in the shop for more than a few minutes. Spending a few hours in the shop on the weekend was a welcome change, and an accomplishment in itself. In the midst of the forced hiatus from the shop, I began to question whether I would ever be able to do woodworking as I knew it (anything that required standing up?!).

Currently I am working on a table top made from a single board of padauk. It has some stains of unknown origin and I have tried various ways to remove them. The most recent efforts involve a vintage Stanley No 80 scraper plane that has somehow found its way into my shop; that seems to be the right tool to accomplish this stain removal. My conventional hand planes were giving me too much tearout (likely setup, plane prep, or other user error!), and my card scraper effort were too slow and inconsistent. I am far from done on this, but at least I think I see a workable method for board prep.

The next big change for me will be a foray into spray finishing. I have been to a workshop, acquired the tools and materials that I think I need, but have not yet taken the plunge. Finishing has long been my weakness as a woodworker, and I hope and expect that this change will be a 'step up my game'.

Henry

learning to spray

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Fill gun with water and spray onto a piece of cardboard. This exercise will get you trained in keeping the gun the right distance, overlap, gun orientation, moving gun across the surface, etc.

To spray successful you need to learn:

holding and moving the gun across the work, proper fluid viscosity (not very critical on a conventional gun), proper atomization pressure, good lighting to see what you are laying down, and finally the advanced knowledge of spray strategy to keep overspray off what you have already sprayed. The last topic is hard on something like a chair.

I find a lazy Susan arrangement on saw horses handy for orienting the object to be sprayed.

Re: learning to spray - thanks

Henry (Raleigh NC)

Thanks Bill - of course I don't know what I don't know ... but I will learn.

One of my most effective ways of learning is WoodCentral (your posts, as well as many others - thank you!), but eventually I have to get down to business and try it myself.

I am not going into this completely 'blind' - I have had an opportunity to try various spray set ups at a local hands-on workshop I attended. We were using a variety of systems: conventional compressor with gravity guns, as well as turbine systems. We were spraying water onto paper sheets and cardboard. We each got to adjust/set-up the gun to create the desired spray pattern, and I got some expert advice to correct my lack of technique. It didn't more than a dozen reminders for me to figure stuff out... Bleeder guns from turbines were simply disconcerting to me and so that ruled out that category on the basis of personal preference/dislike. I already have what I hope will prove to be a serviceable compressor - for the relatively small scale on which I need to work. I needed some more hardware bits to assemble my own working system, most of which have arrived .... I will know more (discover what I am missing?) once I assemble the pieces and try to spray (water).

Henry