ListWise

Monday, July 18, 2005

90% But Working

Due to my back injury yesterday I wasn’t able to start laying flooring again. That is a job that is really hard on the back even when I’m at 100%. Instead I went back to work on the e-solution hutch. I got it stripped, sanded, and primed, and I’m not thrilled with the way it is coming out. I guess, it’s better to say it is coming out OK, but compared to the Frankenstein Hutch it looks worse than it is. Does that make sense.

There are two real problems with it. First, I screwed up on the crown molding. One side is crooked and it drives me nuts. I was working in very cramped quarters and I just didn’t notice when I put it on. My face was inches from it and I just didn’t have the perspective. If I had caught it right away I could have removed it and done it over. As it is now, I glued and nailed it really good and I would probably end up destroying it if I tried to remove it. If I ruined one side piece I could deal with that. I have enough of the crown molding left over to replace it. However, if I ruined the side and front (they are glued and nailed together), or just the front, I would be screwed. There isn’t enough to do the front. I’m hoping it won’t be as noticeable once the hutch is painted a uniform color.

The other problem is on one side the wood is de-laminating, for lake of a better term. This was part of a built in and the one side was never exposed so it was never painted (80+ years). It is one piece of 1X12 redwood. The grain is very raised. I have sanded and sanded and sanded. It just keeps popping up and in places it sort of peels off. If it was not attached to the cabinet I would run it through the planer and that would take care of it, but I can’t do that. I sanded it once more and primed it. I’m hoping that will solve the problem.

All in all, I guess that isn’t too bad. Still, it would be nice if I didn’t have these problems. I keep telling myself that I only spent $32.00 on the legs and $60.00 on the latches, so if I’m really dissatisfied it is not a huge loss. I’m going to do my best to find the little quirks charming, but I don’t know.

1 comment:

Jocelyn said...

sounds like the wood is very dried out where it's peeling away? I wonder if linseed oil treatment or something like that would help-just a thought- I can't see it so I don't know.

Wise of you to give your back a rest. It seems like any work that makes place on the floor is just killer on one's back. Lately, since I've been stripping (wood) at a table, I get the neck tired from looking down for hours on end feeling, but it's just tired and not in real pain.

At least you wouldn't be out a lot of money, but your time is worth something too. I hope you can figure something out. :)