Next, it was time to apply the polyurethane topcoat. Usually, this is a pretty straight forward process. Adhering to a few simple rules such as using a quality product, applying it in even, full length strokes, minimizing dust in the shop and lightly sanding between coats most often results in a beautiful finish. However, this time it was not without it’s problems. It was rather funny (in retrospect) that after all of the new challenges I had with this project, and that went quite smoothly, I would be beset with problems with the finishing.

When I first started to apply the first coat of polyurethane (MinWax Wipe-On Poly) all seemed well but then I started to notice that the stain was starting to lighten. The more I looked the more I realized that I was actually rubbing off the stain! Since I wasn’t using any excessive pressure I figured that the stain was not thoroughly dried yet (although it had been drying for 3 days and by all accounts appeared dry). I stopped doing the rest and, of course, had to re-sand and re-stain the pieces that I had applied the poly to.

This time I let the stain dry for over a week and attempted to wipe on the poly again but the same thing happened! Perplexed, I re-sanded and re-stained the pieces again.

Not taking anymore chance I let the stain dry for two weeks this time and because wiping the poly on was removing the stain I decided that I would brush it on. So that’s what I did, over a period of a week I brushed on several coats of wipe-on poly. It finally finished up beautifully.

Once the poly was dried, (and boy, did I let it dry!) it was time to put it all together. Here are some photos of this process:

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style Coffee Table – Part 7'

Well, since I plan on making a rocking chair this year I had to get several projects out of the way. One of them is the Craftsman Style Coffee Table I started in February of last year. I have been puttering with it way too long. It was time to finish it and since the finishing was all that was left that’s what I did.

Though the old finish still had to be removed from several of the pieces the sanding went rather quickly because most of the table had been sanded through various stages of the building.

Once the sanding was done all the tenons were taped and the stain was applied. The stain I chose was Flecto Varathane Golden Mahogany. Strange, I know, to put a Mahogany colored stain on Oak but this matched the color of the other Oak furniture in the room. It is more of a deep honey color than a Mahogany.

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style Coffee Table – Part 6'

Today was both a happy day and a sad day. Happy, because we would finish the chair to the point that we had set out to do four days ago and sad, of course, because it was my last day here at Rocking Chair University. The week had gone so fast, it seemed that I had just arrived!

The day started with a special treat. In addition to rocking chairs Hal has made several guitars and harps. Here he is playing a few songs on the ‘Reso Nuevo’ resophonic guitar (dobro) that he built:

He doesn’t make guitars anymore but he says he’s working on a few more harp designs and he also hopes to make a violin sometime!

After this enjoyable mini-concert we worked on the arms and the rockers. The first thing to do was to plane the rockers to size:

Continue reading 'Rocking Chair University Week – Day 5'

The English Walnut that we were using for the chair had a very distinct coloring, ranging from mostly the creamy white of the sapwood to what would be considered the more traditional dark brown of the heartwood. Since it hadn’t been ‘steamed’ as most commercial Walnut is it retained it’s natural color throughout. It’s sweet smell had a tang that peaked your senses as soon as you walked into the shop, immediately setting the mind’s perspective of the work, or journey, ahead.

It was Day 4 here at Hal’s and since the smell of the Walnut has set my mood I’m ready and raring to go!

We started today with coopering the backrest. As I said in the first post this chair is a small rocker so the ‘headrest’ of a traditional rocker is the backrest on this one. Here are the four pieces that we will be using:

The joining edges were cut to a 4-5 degree angle, which will give a comfortable sweep. The edges were then planed, glued together and clamped with pinch dogs:

Continue reading 'Rocking Chair University Week – Day 4'