The last two days I’ve been applying finish to both slabs and the base. I start at 5 AM and end about 10 PM, but it’s relaxed compared to the days leading to this point. I don’t have to wait to begin work because it’s practically silent. By 7 AM I’ve sanded the previous coat of finish on all surfaces and applied another coat. Then I can stop for coffee and some breakfast. I give it about three hours before the next cycle. This morning after breakfast I chamfered and sanded the little diamond-shaped bubinga covers for the bolt holes. Last night I bored and countersunk the attachment holes.
The OCD among us will note that I didn’t take care to align the grain in the same orientation on every cover. I also didn’t have an even number of odd orientations. By random selection, there are six one way and two the other. So I will attach the pair of oddballs together on one stretcher and assign the six normal fellers elsewhere, in plainer view.
After getting a coat of shellac on the covers, I looked around for something else to do while the finish dried. The light was looking a little interesting outside…hadn’t used my camera out of doors for some time…packing up my tools could wait.
All of these flowers and leaves right outside the front door…I’ve been forgetting to stop and shoot the roses.
Love those little berries swimming in and out of focus.
By midmorning the bottom was dry enough to flip over and do a third coat on the top. Starting to get a little build now. I used a quart of finish on the first two coats–this maple is thirsty. The spalted areas are softer then the rest–when you apply finish there it disappears in an instant. I guessed it would take five coats, but it might go to six or seven or more–I’ll keep pouring it on there until it comes to the top or drips out the bottom. I like satin finish for most of my work, but I’m applying gloss for the first many coats–the satin has a clouding agent in it that will obscure the wood if you get it too thick. One or two coats of satin at the end will knock down the sheen.
I was hoping to wait to show it here until the build was a little more even. But I’m going home tomorrow…and sunlight coming through the window hit this spot. To the left you’ve got your curl/fiddleback/tiger-stripe, around the crack you’ve got some spalting.
The live edge is both curvy and coloful. If it were mine, I’d spend a lot of time running my fingers over it. Tactile. By the way, this is a good exhibit of how curl/fiddleback shows up in layer under the bark, too. See those ripples?
The end grain is really sweet. I planed that with my low angle jack, left it a little beveled for more of that tactile.
I’ll get four coats on every surface before I have to get on an airplane. I could stay up all night and get six on, I suppose, but then it’d still have to cure for a few days before I rub it out and assemble it upstairs, so I guess I’ll sleep…then come back to finish the job. So close.
Hey, one of the rare times that red came out pretty close to right.
rpdpod 