Finished Walnut Cradle

After a lil bit of blood, alot of sweat, an no tears (no crying for lilwodguy).  Here is the finished walnut cradle.

My very next post will include how this all came together, to include glue-ups, and how the legs were cut after glue up for sizing and leveling.  Thanks again for taking a look! 

To take words from a great song... Another one bites the dust (sawdust).

Take a Shellacing

This week there was a lot of sanding being done.  Doing this was so I could prepare for the next step...  Finish.

Though sanding seems like an easy proposition... To ensure it is done correctly I take the following steps

I mark the workpieces heavily with a pencil then sand until all of the pencil marks are removed.  Because the workpieces came directly from the planer, I sanded using each of the following grits..

80
120
150
220

After sanding I applied one coat of shellac.  Click here to see the product I used.  The link shows a spray can; however, what I used was the quart.

The application was with a rag.  I cannot stress how important it is to be sure to apply thin coats. Quite honestly the thinner the better, and don't be concerned if there is slight streaking.  This will happen and clear up in later coats.  Just remember "thin to win".

After the first coat... I sanded lightly using 320 grit sandpaper.  I then applied a second coat.

After the second coat I applied a coat of Johnson's Paste Wax using 0000 steel wool.  I then let it set up for about 15 minutes and then buffed it out.  There will be more pictures coming in the next post as glue-ups begin.