I’m finally on the finish. I think I mentioned it last time, but I’m going with a Poly/Mineral Spirits/BLO Blend

I put 4 coats on a test board and it looked pretty good, but the wife likes things a little glossy so I tossed a quick 75% Naphtha/25% Poly just to see what it looked like. At worst I figure I can just stick with the Oil/Varnish blend.

Can I just say how annoying it is that there are little to no oil based varnishes available in CA?! It’s really frustrating! The only one I’ve been able to find is Varathane ’s Oil Based Poly at Home Depot and even then it’s pretty scarce!

Anyways Here’s a pic of the finish with 2 coats on. I hope to be done on Sunday!

Progress has been made thought!

I got the bases trimmed and routed a round hole in the top out the backside of the column for the speaker wire, it’s just barely big enough for the caple to run through!

I also cut a 5/8” hole in the bases to run the cable, and a 3/8 inch dado on the base to run the wire out the bottom of the stand.

Decided to go with dowels to connect the base and the top to the column.

Next I spent a day cleaning up some cracks in one of the bases. It’s highly figured so I had to fill a couple knots and hairline cracks. Just used 5 min epoxy that dries clear. Looks great with mineral spirits wiped on to theorize how the finish would look! Kind of makes it look resigny!

Glue up was a bit difficult, and should be done tonight. I realized after the fact that my miter saw is not to be trusted, as there is about a 1/32” gap at the bottom of one of the sides of the base/column junction. Funny thing is that my square says it’s square from two sides, but there’s still a gap when I square it to the base….guess I need to re analyze my miter saw’s accuracy before my next project! I’ll either fill it in with epoxy or CA glue and it shouldn’t be noticable.

Last night I did a dry fit and everything looked pretty good! Here’s a couple pictures!

Think I’m going to go with a Poly/Mineral Spirits/BLO blend for the finish with the last coat or two just behing thinned out poly.

Couple of coats on this one already as my test!

I needed to make some speaker stands for my surround channels. I thought the options online were either stupidly expensive ($500 for some 4/4 Walnut really stands, Really?) or just ugly so I decided to make my own.

I took inspiration from our new couch and used the baseball stitching in the leather to create design with contrasting walnut and maple.

Today I spent the day milling the lumber (Just got a new old jointer :), Bridgewood 6”) and cutting the pieces for the project. That’s a lot when you factor in two small children! 5 Months and 2 1/2 years! My two year old thought it would be great to draw on my BMW with chalk too…..sigh…..the joys of parenthood!

I managed to get everything cut and ready. Had to make one change from the plan though. Originally I was just going to butt joint it the whole way through, but realized that the glue-up would be a bit difficult so I cut a quick 1/8” rabbet on the inside of the sides to give some sturdiness during clamping, and a bit more strength.

Here’s a dry fit to give you an idea of what the columns will look like afterwards!

Glue-up was cake with the rabbet, a couple of fresh cauls and a bunch of clamps and voila! 24 hour waiting period initialized!!!

Tomorrow I plan to do a bit of the detail work on the bases and the tops, mostly rounding over the edges, and maybe cutting a groove in the base for the speaker wire. Oh and of course gluing up the second column tomorrow night….right after I sweep and mop the floors…..sigh…..

Gnite!