Hmmmmm, seems that over the past few weeks, several members have suffered finishing disasters of one kind or another. At least one response in this type of thread is likely to be “Always test your complete finishing schedule on scrap from your project.”
So I thought perhaps such a universal suggestion deserves its own thread, maybe saving at least a few individuals from the pain, agony and loss of sleep that often follows a failed finishing attempt.
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
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FG: "Always test your complete finishing schedule on scrap from your project."
That sounds an awful like: "Buy your hardware first" or "Read the instructions."
and www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
You'd think, yes, but I'd venture to guess that most of us have made that mistake once in our woodworking lives. forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
It can take minutes to ruin a project you've spent days or weeks making. Use a large piece of scrap from the same boards you used in construction, tape off with painter's tape and test your full schedule with minor variations. Changes in shellac cut/color, amount of dye used (I test dye strength with 4oz water and count eyedrops of transtints - there's a difference between 30 and 35 drops!), and choice of top coat all make major changes in the finished look. Write down the exact schedule (including sanding schedule - sanding with different grits changes stain absorbsion) with a sharpie on the side or back of the board.
Given the same weather/shop conditions, you should expect exactly the same result on your finished piece.
Just my .02
Along the same lines, whenever I am putting a project together, I always mill a bunch of extra wood in the various thickness I'll be using. I use these "extras" to set up my machines for joinery so I can make test joints in wood the same dimensions as the final part, tweaking the setups as needed. (For some joints, like the dreaded lock miter, I use a LOT of this test wood. LOL!)
You can later use these test pieces for finish testing. My Lovely Assistant is the finishing guru on the team, and she'll typically take 5 or 6 of these scraps and test out various stains, dyes, etc. to come up with a color & finish she likes.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Everything fits, until you put glue on it.
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