28th February 2019
“All you have to do is to sand the tops of those side tables” these words reverberate in my ears very often. I was expecting to get them done over the week end, but no, they now have to be ready to take to Hudsonville on Friday.
So I started, first I spread paint stripper over the one with the high gloss finish expecting it to erupt in a bubbling mass of muck, but it did not happen. The stuff just sat there with no signs of any chemical reaction. I gave it time, but the clock was ticking, and I needed to give Kelli something to work on. I took my trusty chisel and scraped the surface of the second table. Within a short time I had exposed the raw wood ready for sanding, but number one was still sitting there, I had no alternative but to scrape off the stripper residue and hopefully, remove some of the finish with it.
Well that didn’t work, the gloss varnish was still there, so I attacked it with my chisel. Once all that had been removed, the sanding began. After four hours I was still going. Whatever the wood was sealed with was like armour plate. Piles of worn out sandpaper lay on the floor along with the sawdust. Eventually, with my fingers raw and aching I handed it over to be painted.
Once the primer had been added, I stained both the tops with a walnut colour.
By the time that had been done, both of us didn’t feel like making dinner, so it was just the excuse we needed to go out to eat.
When we got back I coated the tops with a clear lacquer and crashed out for what was left of the evening.
Another Lifetime to go 