A day off to tie up loose ends....

I hate it when a project is close to the end. Inevitably there’s always the little things I’ve been putting off. I know they need to be done but the procrastonator in me just can’t bring myself to do them, no matter how little time it would actually take to do them.
I’ll spend hours and hours selecting the correct stock for the project. Sorting through the stock to match up the grains or the colors for key components. Hours trying to decide the type of joinery that would work best or even minute design ideas. But when it comes to something as simple as filling a brad hole(s) or doing touch up work on a painted surface. I can find every excuse under the sun not to do them.
Perhaps it’s my sign, I’m an Aries and even though I don’t check my horoscope that often I do know that Aries are notorious starters and even more notorious at avoiding finishing anything they start.
So today I took the day off from the day job to finally tie up all those loose ends I’ve been putting off. This project I’ve been working on for far to long has been consuming far to much time. I warned the client that since I’ve never done anything this big it might take awhile and so far they’ve been understanding. Five floor to ceiling shelf units with a grand total of 30 adjustable shelves can be a little time consuming, especially in this basement workshop. And that’s only half the project, they also wanted an modern looking entertainment center with bookshelves (sounds worse than it is).
The client chose to have everything painted black, no grain showing through. Normally I would have opted for MDF but the local big box store couldn’t help and the nearest supplier wasn’t close enough to make it worth my while. Not to mention I don’t even want to think about carrying those sheets downstairs to work on them.
The project proceeded well and so did the assembly. Once the primer went on and then the first coat of paint I thought I was in the clear, but that’s when I began to notice little things I overlooked. A glob of glue not scraped away or a speck of dust or two that wasn’t wiped away. But after sanding and then the second coat the end was near right? Well there was still the matter of the thirty shelves….Thank goodness tomorrow’s saturday!!!

-- Straight grains & sharp blades