This one kicked my butt. Specifically the finishing process, which I called done this evening.
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The actual bench was pretty simple to make. Floating tenon joinery with tenons made from quartersawn cherry, figure 8 fasteners to hold down the top, some curves and tapers, and careful attention to making sure the shelf is well secured but free to expand and contract as needed.
The whole thing has a mix of dye, shellac, and Arm R Seal on it. I think I mixed georgian brown mahogany and pilgrim amber dyes to get the color, but it was so long ago I can't remember. The base was done with arm r seal satin.
The top was a long, long process. For whatever reason, I couldn't stop getting streaks in the finish and ultimately sanded back down to bare wood two times, re-dying and going through the process again. I think I was putting it on too heavy but only on the top for some reason. Maybe fear of drips on the vertical parts kept me from messing that up. Ultimately, i did get a decent build of Arm R Seal gloss on the top (I switched after a while and sanded everything back to a flat dullness without going back to the wood) and let that cure for a long time. Then I wet sanded at 400, RO at 800 with some abranet, and worked up to 4000 with abralon pads. This basically looked ok, but the sheen was too high compared to the rest of it. So, back down to 2000 and then a coat of paste wax to hide some of the issues.
Something about the different layers of finish caused some weirdness on there. There are what look like witness lines, but they are far below the surface.. almost like I captured them at some point in the process. Not too visible unless you get down to a weird angle, but enough that I notice and feel guilty about it.
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[attachimg=2]
[attachimg=3]
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The actual bench was pretty simple to make. Floating tenon joinery with tenons made from quartersawn cherry, figure 8 fasteners to hold down the top, some curves and tapers, and careful attention to making sure the shelf is well secured but free to expand and contract as needed.
The whole thing has a mix of dye, shellac, and Arm R Seal on it. I think I mixed georgian brown mahogany and pilgrim amber dyes to get the color, but it was so long ago I can't remember. The base was done with arm r seal satin.
The top was a long, long process. For whatever reason, I couldn't stop getting streaks in the finish and ultimately sanded back down to bare wood two times, re-dying and going through the process again. I think I was putting it on too heavy but only on the top for some reason. Maybe fear of drips on the vertical parts kept me from messing that up. Ultimately, i did get a decent build of Arm R Seal gloss on the top (I switched after a while and sanded everything back to a flat dullness without going back to the wood) and let that cure for a long time. Then I wet sanded at 400, RO at 800 with some abranet, and worked up to 4000 with abralon pads. This basically looked ok, but the sheen was too high compared to the rest of it. So, back down to 2000 and then a coat of paste wax to hide some of the issues.
Something about the different layers of finish caused some weirdness on there. There are what look like witness lines, but they are far below the surface.. almost like I captured them at some point in the process. Not too visible unless you get down to a weird angle, but enough that I notice and feel guilty about it.
