RufflyRustic
7th March 2008, 10:33 AM
I confess, I get entralled by timber. I cant't help it, but the feel of a beautifully finished timber piece enthralls me.:star2::sleep4::star2:
Last weekend, just before locking up my shed for the week, I ran my hands over my latest project to check the finish after all the hard work I'd put into it. Well, it was wonderful. So wonderful, that I think I even lost a few minutes in awe of the smoothness I'd managed to achieve. Then my hands hit a rough patch and I woke up....:rolleyes:
Since Christmas, I've been building a pine cabinet with pine that is so soft it practically dents and scratches itself whenever I go to move it, pick it up or even look sideways at it. Trying to sand all the marks out, including whatever dressing marks the pine boards arrived with is impossible. For each mark, scratch or dent I remove, I make or find three more. So there comes a point where I either destroy the cabinet, or live with the marks. Having decided the marks and dents were there to stay, I then wondered if this is where the practice of purposely distressing a piece came from. :whistling2:
Why have I been wasting so much time :whatonearth:handsanding marks out of timber when a little forethought and board preparation would save me not only time, but sandpaper, money, sore shoulders and hands!
:think:This got me to thinking back over the discussion Soundman, Star and I had at Dai Sensei's GTG recently, about finishing a project, setting up a new belt sander, on to hand sanding and then into the realm of a few mistakes some people (ok – Me!) make until some kind soul quietly tells/teaches/shows us the better way or we stumble upon the realisation ourselves, whether it be by reading or listening, or even finding our own light switch. While I can't remember the exact words of the conversation, it did help me turn up the glow on my own light bulb. http://www.ubeaut.biz/idea.gif
Gone are the days when I could make a project in a weekend, when jumps in sandpaper grits from 80 to 240 to 800 were perfectly acceptable, when butt joints, glued and screwed, were the only way to make a joint and when a can of spray, gloss varnish was the only finish I owned.
Now, it's the realisation that before I measure, mark or saw the timber, prepping it will not only save me time, but money as well as less frustration when joints fit better the first time round. It's the sad but overdue demise of the very ruff, the extreme rustic that really, is not truly rustic, and no longer belongs, not now. It's time to put the things I've learned into practice, to prepare the timber before cutting the project parts, to using planes, scrapers and much less sandpaper so I can reach that moment once more when the project is finished and I can be quietly enthralled again.:B
[Edit - I decided to change the title and content slightly to remove any chance of misunderstanding, due to the my original misuse of the word den.drophil.e]
Last weekend, just before locking up my shed for the week, I ran my hands over my latest project to check the finish after all the hard work I'd put into it. Well, it was wonderful. So wonderful, that I think I even lost a few minutes in awe of the smoothness I'd managed to achieve. Then my hands hit a rough patch and I woke up....:rolleyes:
Since Christmas, I've been building a pine cabinet with pine that is so soft it practically dents and scratches itself whenever I go to move it, pick it up or even look sideways at it. Trying to sand all the marks out, including whatever dressing marks the pine boards arrived with is impossible. For each mark, scratch or dent I remove, I make or find three more. So there comes a point where I either destroy the cabinet, or live with the marks. Having decided the marks and dents were there to stay, I then wondered if this is where the practice of purposely distressing a piece came from. :whistling2:
Why have I been wasting so much time :whatonearth:handsanding marks out of timber when a little forethought and board preparation would save me not only time, but sandpaper, money, sore shoulders and hands!
:think:This got me to thinking back over the discussion Soundman, Star and I had at Dai Sensei's GTG recently, about finishing a project, setting up a new belt sander, on to hand sanding and then into the realm of a few mistakes some people (ok – Me!) make until some kind soul quietly tells/teaches/shows us the better way or we stumble upon the realisation ourselves, whether it be by reading or listening, or even finding our own light switch. While I can't remember the exact words of the conversation, it did help me turn up the glow on my own light bulb. http://www.ubeaut.biz/idea.gif
Gone are the days when I could make a project in a weekend, when jumps in sandpaper grits from 80 to 240 to 800 were perfectly acceptable, when butt joints, glued and screwed, were the only way to make a joint and when a can of spray, gloss varnish was the only finish I owned.
Now, it's the realisation that before I measure, mark or saw the timber, prepping it will not only save me time, but money as well as less frustration when joints fit better the first time round. It's the sad but overdue demise of the very ruff, the extreme rustic that really, is not truly rustic, and no longer belongs, not now. It's time to put the things I've learned into practice, to prepare the timber before cutting the project parts, to using planes, scrapers and much less sandpaper so I can reach that moment once more when the project is finished and I can be quietly enthralled again.:B
[Edit - I decided to change the title and content slightly to remove any chance of misunderstanding, due to the my original misuse of the word den.drophil.e]