Let me show you why tonight’s shop-time sucked…
Sigh… So I had a 2gal bucket of Anchorseal – prized wood end grain sealer for drying logs and planks. I was carrying it to a spot in the shop where I was to seal up a bunch of European olive bottle blanks I resawed and cut up from a large log tonight. My foot got hung up really well on something – maybe my rolling stand – and I lurched forward hard. Of course, I never trip like that, but since I was carrying a bucket of liquid wax emulsion… I hadn’t put the lid on the bucket properly – just sat it lightly on top – because I had just been using it, and was only bringing it over to use it closer to where I was working.
I should have capped it AND carried it by the pail handle. Alas, I absolutely launched its contents out of it. It was the same kind of 2-handed motion you’d do if you were trying to throw the contents of a bucket out a window, or into someone’s face. I emptied it entirely, while screaming ”NOOOOooooo!”, and it made the same kind of noise you get when emptying a bucket into the tub, a sickening splash and splatter. I recall closing my eyes and not wanting to open them ever again. You’ll note my shoe is rather well sealed now. I guess that new shoe purchase I keep putting off will get bumped forward on my to-buy list.
You can see the joy in my eyes there. I’ll do a separate post soon on the bottle blanks, because the inside of that European olive log is just beautiful, and I got a lot of pretty pictures. The sealer on my arm is from the initial launch of everything out of the bucket.
In an earlier photo, you see a scrap of plywood coated entirely. I emptied it back into the bucket, then started using it to ‘lift’ the viscous sealer off the floor. I couldn’t just scoop it up, because the floor is a mess in my shop, covered in sawdust, screws, tree parts, labels, plastic strips – in short, it needs a hardy cleaning. So, I kept laying the sheet in the puddle, then picking it up and flipping it over quickly, and using a turning blank as a scraper to ‘shave’ the new surface of sealer back into the bucket. You can see the scraped ply board in this shot:
I managed to get a pretty clean 3” high volume back into the bucket, enough to seal up the blanks. I’m normally quite dainty in my sealings, trying not to get any on my hands, because I don’t like sliminess. It was too late for that now, though, and I just ended up plunging my hand into the bucket with each blank in many cases. Way faster! My hands should be silky smooth tomorrow :) The worst part was that I was trapped in the garage, because my hands were now frictionless. Even after I wiped them down, I had a very hard time with the smooth brass doorknob. I could’ve starved in there!
Cleanup’s going to be fun. I imagined paper towels, sponges and a bucket, a steam cleaner to melt and suck it all back up, something absorbent and a heat gun to melt the dried stuff in, yanking it free like an eyebrow waxing, or just letting it dry out, and using a metal or plastic scraper. Shame the floor is rough concrete. That won’t help any. Here’s an example of how fruitless paper towels would be, in video form:
It’s so thick, sticky, and waxy, the paper towels just push it around. I’ve spilled a blob or three here and there on the floor before, and once they get dusted in sawdust, those spots become slippery like ice. This spill is going to pose some interesting problems for me, even after I clean it up.
I ordered the 5gal bucket last week, as I was nearing the halfway point on this, and now I’m going to be doing all this resawing. It arrives this week. Stay tuned for the MEGADISASTER I’m planning for that container once it gets here!
Sigh…
-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator


























22 comments so far
CessnaPilotBarry
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1225 posts in 581 days
posted 140 days ago
I so feel for you!
I’ve had similar accidents with stains, expensive clear coats, etc…
Here’s to better days!
-- - Please help keep Lumberjocks an enjoyable escape by refusing to participate in political discussions. Simply spit out the bait and ignore the thread...
cabinetmaster
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8011 posts in 437 days
posted 140 days ago
Gary, I feel for you man. I’ve had similar accidents and it can be very frustrating. Glad you weren’t hurt.
-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps
spanky46
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735 posts in 269 days
posted 140 days ago
Sorry about that Gary! Pictures are one thing but movies with sound and no swearing or expletives…You must be a saint!
Can’t tell you all the times I have tripped in my shop!
-- spanky46 -- Never enough clamps...Never enough tools...Never enough time.
patron
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2244 posts in 220 days
posted 140 days ago
good chance to ” clean up ” the shop !
it’s allways in the details .
-- david ,new mexico ,allheart
Todd A. Clippinger
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5590 posts in 978 days
posted 140 days ago
ARRRRGH!
-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com
RobS
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1231 posts in 1185 days
posted 140 days ago
Did something similar with black stain just a week ago, the only good news for me was that I ended up not wanting to use the stain anyway, so lost the money but did not want the product, not for the current project. Was wearing flip-flops at the time, ened up with Ozzy Ozbourne black toe nail polish, so be thankful for the shoes.
Live and learn…
-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX
Kindlingmaker
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1417 posts in 405 days
posted 140 days ago
Oooooohhh… Anything but Anchorseal! Great photos though and thank you!
-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings
bluchz
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142 posts in 252 days
posted 140 days ago
ouch!!! that hurts the feelings and the checkbook. It was a bad day but it could be worse, at least nobody got hurt!
SCOTSMAN
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2229 posts in 464 days
posted 140 days ago
ouch I felt that!!! what a bummer.Alistair
-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease
a1Jim
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15591 posts in 456 days
posted 140 days ago
To bad man it’s happen to the best of use
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
stefang
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1534 posts in 213 days
posted 140 days ago
What a nightmare! I really feel for you. Isn’t there some kind of solvent that takes wax? Better wear spiked shoes in the shop til you’ve got it cleaned up.
-- Mike, American in Norway
bowyer
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342 posts in 275 days
posted 140 days ago
I know exactly how you feel, my oops moment involved a gal paint and new carpet. Replace the round door knob with a lever style, easy opening with elbows!!
Rick
-- If at first you don't succeed...Don't try skydiving
SCOTSMAN
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2229 posts in 464 days
posted 140 days ago
or dentures.LOL hey I have all my own.Alistair
-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease
Gary Fixler
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637 posts in 260 days
posted 140 days ago
Thanks for the solidarity, folks! I actually did get hurt. When I tripped, I did something to the outer edge of my left foot. Almost feels like a fracture, but when I press on it and move it around, it doesn’t hurt, and I think a fracture should. I’ve had knocks like this to the feet plenty, though, with my long and storied soccer career years back. I’m sure it’s just a bruised bone, same as always. Hurts a little to walk today, but I’ll be back at full strength soon enough.
Thanks again, all! We are truly a bunch of clumsy people :)
-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator
Karson
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25279 posts in 1279 days
posted 140 days ago
Sorry gary. A nice/bad mess.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
pommy
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892 posts in 570 days
posted 140 days ago
Gray thats got to hurt man sorry but i had to laugh i did the same thing awhile back with some paint for indoors but i never had the balls to show everyone
enjoy the clean up mate
Andy
-- cut it saw it scrap it
TraumaJacques
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380 posts in 379 days
posted 140 days ago
Hi Gary
Sorry for the spill I have been a fan of your blog for a while and totally get the free wood thing but I must ask you this…What in the world are you gonna do with it all? now others may have asked you this, but I do not have time to read every comments. it appears to me that all your wood is about 12 inches in length. Just my two cents.
-- All bleeding will eventually stop.
TopamaxSurvivor
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2831 posts in 555 days
posted 140 days ago
That is the pits!! :-(( Sorry to hear this. My guess is a pressure washer would be the way to take it off to floor. I have one of the little ones that hooks up to a hose for water supply. You can get adapters that go from kitchen faucet to hose thread. That way you could send hot water through to help soften the wax, Those pressure washers will take the finish off concrete if you’re not careful. I’m sujre it will take teh wax off.
-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.
Gary Fixler
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637 posts in 260 days
posted 140 days ago
Thanks Karson and Andy.
Jaques – Good question! I’m just having fun. I guess there’s a general idea here that if you’re loading up on free supplies, you’re trying to form a business, or at least offset costs, but I’m really not. I’m just fascinated by processes. I have often been known to buy all the stuff necessary for processes (anodizing, distilling, machining, etc), but never really make anything out of them. There are always new processes to learn and try out. So, any ideas? :)
I think pretty stuff will end up in frame and panel cabinets, as I have about 10-15 cabinet ideas I need for myself in various rooms and the shop itself. I’ve considered trying instruments when I get better, as I dabble in a few, and would love more than anything to make, say, a stringed instrument I could then fiddle around on. Book-matching my own instrument fronts and back would be very enjoyable for me. I have tables I want to make. Lately I’m a bit on about bottle stoppers, and that’s why I cut out about 25 blanks last night. They can be very beautiful, are pretty quick and fun to make, and people always need them it seems. I already have customers lined up for some. I admit, one of them is mom.
I also love little boxes, like jewelry boxes, and thin slabs of pretty, found woods would make keepsake boxes extra special when I give them as gifts. I have some people who want a lazy susan or three, and making them out of wood I prepared from the tree all the way through to the finished piece would give me – and subsequently them – a nice little story behind the piece. Too, I have a lot of little ideas I want to try out on my mini mill and mini lathe, with CNC processes that would be nightmarishly difficult to do by hand.
Oh, another thing – finishes. I’m really happy to have tons of pieces of various woods for really trying out every combination of varnishes, oils, stains, dyes, and whatever else on the same wood, in mixed ratios, and with varying orders of application and layers. Once I build up a big knowledge of that stuff from hands-on experience, I’ll know my favorites, and how they look, and what they do to wood, and then with minimal testing, I’ll have a really strong picture of how I want to finish future projects in woods I don’t know well. For example, I can then do 3 tests of things I’d prefer to use, and know “this is the one.”
Finally, it’s just fun! I’m having a blast. I have 1 other woodworking pal out here, and he’s starting to pick up the pace in his new 2-car garage (so jealous), having gotten the same saw table as me, and now a compressor and 3 nail guns. He made a bunch of boxes in short order, and they all came out perfectly I hear. He’s also really good at repair and refinishing of older and antique pieces. I could give him the gift of a pile of slabs to do what he will with next year when they’re dry enough. It’s no loss to me when they were free, right? There are few woodworkers I know here, because I’m in the tech/entertainment industry, at a computer all day.
-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator
HokieMojo
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1136 posts in 607 days
posted 140 days ago
i forgot to mention this in an earlier post, so I guess here is as good as any spot. I remember you got some softwoods (leyland cypress maybe). Remember that all that sap will cause problems even after the wood is dry. This may be one time that a kiln would be valuable. I’ve read on here that is is called eitehr pitch setting or sap setting. Basically, the theory goes that whatever temperature the sap reaches, is the new minimum temperature that the sap will start to run again. In other words, you will probably want to get your logs up to a nice warm temp (over 150?) for a sustainable time period. That way sap won’t run from a finished project if it ever is exposed to heat in a kitchen, attic, or direct sunlight in front of a window.
Also, sorry about the spill. I’ve had some bad issues but it ussually involves a dropped tool or project. Thsi is messier, but hopefully less costly. Hope your foot feels better.
Kindlingmaker
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1417 posts in 405 days
posted 140 days ago
Gary, Use floor stripper that you would strip the wax off your kitchen floors with… Just a thought.
-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings
clieb91
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679 posts in 814 days
posted 135 days ago
Gary
Just got a chance to see the pics. Ouch, hope it cleaned up well.
Sounds like some good ideas for usage of all that wood. Glad you are able to process it look forward to seeing the finished and the in progress pieces.
CtL
-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."