...it smells like victory! Or at least the upcoming completion of a project.
Made a trip down to Woodcraft today to pick up some finishing supplies for the crib. Had to make a stop at the Orange BORG (you know...Same As Lowe's Only Orange) to pick up some rags (old redneck t-shirts as Mike likes to call them) and a drop cloth. After that, it was all bidness.
Here's a picture of the starting of the finishing...
And a before picture, just for reference.
Yes, it looks a little glossier in some places than others. This is only coat one and I haven't hit it with steel wool yet. The first coat is hand-rubbed gloss Arm-R-Seal and the second coat will be the same. The last coats are yet to be determined. I'm not sure if I'm going to go satin or semi-gloss. I'm leaning more towards satin as it will tend to hide wear better than semi-gloss will, but I also like a little glossier finish. Decisions, decisions...
The one thing I'm really pleased with is the way that the finish makes the walnut stand out from the maple. In the "before" picture, the walnut was just sorta there...it was pretty, but didn't really pop out at you. After just the first coat of oil the walnut was really starting to "pop" so to speak. I can't wait to see what it will look like with another few coats of finish. Actually, I'm just hoping the damn thing fits together :)
...nothing around here would get done.
Not that I'm a procrastinator or anything. It's just that for some reason, I haven't had the urge to get out to the shop and ruin wood. Could be the hour-plus commute during the work week or it could be all of my friends badgering me to play Unreal Tournament...at any rate, Amy and I decided to take a week off, so I decided after a few weeks away from the crib it was time to get to work...especially since my sis-in-law is due to download at any time now :)
So, at any rate, here are the final two assemblies, the gates. They are, well, underwhelming to look at compared to the sides of the crib, but just to prove that I have done something productive this week, here is a pic:
Everything has been sanded and is, as Nahm would say, ready for the finishing room. Hopefully I'll have the finishing done by the end of next week.
And, as a bonus for being patient, here's a bonus picture of me hard at work.
The odd thing about this picture is that the perspective makes it look like I'm about twelve feet tall, that or the ceiling is really low. It also makes the shop look mighty messy too. Its just the lighting, I swear :)