The curve on the bottom of the smaller plane is an optical illusion from my camera.

I live in Iowa very near the Amana Colonies. The wife and I were there a couple weeks ago, the first time I’ve ever been. While there we went to the furniture factory store. They semi mass produce their furniture. They batch the parts but then hand assemble each one. I’ve attached a link to their web site. They make a mission style bed. Once at the web site click the “Beds” link and then the “Mission all slat bed”. I have to say that the wife and I agreed that it wasn’t as good as the bed I was making.

http://www.amanafurniture.com/products/sleeping.html

After the poly dried I noticed blotches all over the place, that just wasn’t acceptable! I set about stripping the finish off of everything. Trying to hury the process I bought a hand held belt sander. For anyone else that doesn’t know, belt sanders are not tools for making fine furniture! The sander would dig in and leave ripples in the wood. So, it was back to the orbital sander for finer control.

After staining everything again I wiped on two coats of 2# cut shellac, something I did on the last bed I made. Hmm, perhaps I should have done what worked the first time! I then sprayed two coats of poly. This time I added some amber TransTint dye to the poly as the WoodWhisperer demonstrated on a recent podcast.

After the second coat I did a light sanding with 400 grit then sprayed on the third and final coat. After a week I came back and used a 0000 steel wool pad to rub in paste furniture wax, another first for me. All I can say is that the wood feels as smooth as a baby’s bottom!. This is a step I will always do from now on.

Next step is to finish waxing the spindles for the headboard before assembling and attaching the steel rails to the side rails of the bed. I’m getting anxious to have it all assembled and finally get to sleep on it.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the footboard:

I was so excited to have it done it’s already in the bedroom waiting for its mate.

An up close shot of some of the flecking. The flash from the camera washed out the color.

This shot shows some of the flecking in the corbel and top rail. It doesn’t do justice to the spindles.

The next two shots show the flecking in the spindles. I spent extra time making sure the best side would be the one on display. I also ensured that they would align so that the light hitting them would add the most depth.

Second shot of the spindles.

Shot of the top of the top rail. This board had some really big flecks I couldn’t resist showcasing it.

On the first bed I built I applied a coat of shellac before spraying on the poly. I tried to hurry the process this time by skipping the shellac, this was a big mistake. Instead of cutting time I have increased the time before the bed is finished. I’ve learned my lesson and will never skip this step again. Oh well, this has given me an excuse to buy a new tool, a hand held belt sander.

Speaking of tools I looked all over today trying to find an affordable belt sander made anywhere but China. The local Menards was selling a store brand, Workforce, variable speed sander for $89. Of course it was made in China. They had a Makita made in England for $129 but it was in a mangled up box. Farm and Fleet sold a Porter Cable for $129 made in Mexico, but it was a fixed speed unlike the Makita. So, I’m still shopping for the belt sander. I’d buy online but I want to start sanding tomorrow.

I’ll post another blog after I have completed the refinish work.

Tomorrow I will lightly sand everything and spray the final coat. I have not sprayed the top surface of the headboard and footboard top railing so I can glue them on without marring the finish. I will glue up the bed tomorrow and spray the top surface.

My wife has made a beautiful old style quitle to go with the bed. Once everything is assembled I’ll post more pictures of the bed, quilt and nightstands, (which I built about a year ago).

About a 100 or so spindles. What a pain to sand, stain and finish.

Most of the footboard and one of the side rails.

Most of the headboard, the bend in the leg is an optical effect, it’s perfectly straight

There’s some wild grain in this Quartersawn White Oak

More grain shots from the headboard

The grain from the footboard top rail

The grain from the footboard and headboard top rails, from the other end.

I was so busy assembling the lathe that I forgot to take pictures. I didn’t have any help so I had to assemble it solo. To assemble it the headstock, tool rest and tailstock were all moved to one end of the lathe. I propped the other end on a jig, (note to self, that was dangerous, don’t do it again). The leg for that end was then tipped to match the angle of the lathe bed and then screwed on. Next the tailstock, tool rest and headstock were moved to the end attached to the leg. The other leg was set next to legless end of the bed. The bed was then lifted and placed on the leg, aligned and screwed on. Although I was able to do this I would not recommend any one else do it, my back still hurts from all that heavy lifting.

Once assembled I moved the tailstock next to the headstock to check the alignment of the two centers. The tailstock is slightly lower than the headstock. I wrote to Grizzly to find out how to fix this issue. They suggested that the tailstock be shimmed. To shim it they suggested using aluminium from a pop can attached using spray adhesive. I haven’t done this yet so I’ll let you know how this goes.

See the pictures below.

Shipping boxes:

Assembled Lathe:

Alignment of centers:

If interested here is my original iReport.com posting. Well, I’ve had my 15 minutes of fame, now, where’s my fortune. ;)

Don’t worry ladies, the house isn’t just about me. If you look at my projects you’ll see my wife has her own “woman cave”. She’s also getting the den, my old “man cave”, to turn into her own sanctuary, otherwise known as a “sitting room”.

I’ve never used a lathe in my life. I’m anxious to try my hand at turning, but I’m also a little afraid. Turning seems to be something that can be fairly dangerous. Running a board through a table saw isn’t too dangerous if you keep your hands away from the blade and take steps to prevent kickback. I’m a bit afraid of having a tool catching on the wood and having it ripped from my hands.

Anyways, I’ll provide a review of the lathe once I get it and set it up. Would everyone prefer a review of the quality first and a follow up of how it works in use? Or, would you prefer I wait till I’ve had some experience with it?

My sister happens to be an interior decorator. She has commented that I should make some items for a shop she deals with. This shop happens to cater to contemporary items.

These two comments formed an idea for something I’d like to try that includes two things I’ve never done, bent lamination and ebonizing. The idea is to create a bent laminate piece of wood in an arc. The center would be cut out to form a rectangular area. Inside this area I would float a flat piece of wood. The arced piece of wood would be ebonized while the center piece would be hard maple. The floating center would hold a clock.

I’ve read many comments online about ebonizing with differing opinions. I decided to try two different approaches, India ink and black dye. The wood used for this experiment happens to be soft maple. The picture below is the result of my experimentation.

The left 1/4 is India ink alone. The next 1/4 is India ink washed with black dye. The remaining 1/2 is black dye alone. I can see uses for the outer two techniques.

The dye retains a lot of the grain from the wood. I feel I could get it a bit darker and still retain the grain. The technique I used with the dye, (after many attempts), was to place a couple drops of the dye directly on the wood and then use a brush loaded with water to wipe it around. Trying to mix the dye with water dilutes it quite a bit. From pictures at hobbithouseinc.com I see quite a few pieces of gaboon ebony with brown streaks within the grain. If going for a natural ebony look I think I’d prefer the dye.

The India ink provides a nice deep black. If I had sanded this piece of wood before my experiment the India ink would have likely had a more consistent texture. If going for a piano black finish the India ink would be my preferred method. With either method I have found that any finish applied would be better sprayed rather than brushed on.

One additional comment. I have tried taking pictures of this piece of wood with the flash on as well as off. Every picture make the wood appear much brighter than it appears to the naked eye.

These are Sketchup’s of the clock I was considering….

The clock inserts did make it to the local post office today. When I called I was informed the package was there. I had them hold it at the location. At lunchtime today I went and picked it up.

Upon opening the package I thought the clock inserts seemed rather small. After placing one of the inserts over the carcass of one of the clocks I changed my mind. The clocks are going to be nicely proportioned. I hope the Johnson clan likes them. I’ll post one of the completed clocks soon.