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ShopCam HiLites for 12/4/00
Written In The Stars

Today started marvelously if you don't count the shop temperature had dropped significantly over the weekend. The thermometer inside measured 52 degrees F. I guess my little 2000 watt heater just can't keep up!

Saturday, I finished turning the columns and instead of trying to catch them up now, I'm gonna wait and make another finishing batch after the current crop is done. And what are we doing today? The shelves and upper cabinets.

First, we make more room by mounting the drawer faces. They actually went back in position better than when they came out. This is not a good sign. You don't want to use up all your luck that early in the day. Yikes!
Here's the finished cabinet. As mentioned before, final adjustments will occur at Mr. D.'s house. Notice the way the panel grain continues across the middle of the cabinet. These two boards were bookmatched too. This kinda stuff is fun and easy to do with veneered panels. It's especially rewarding to succeed with solid wood.

Working alone most of the time, you get adept at moving heavy objects without damaging yourself or the object. Here, the door cabinet slides off the bench and onto a cart. It will stay there until it's time to slide it off the cart onto the truck for delivery.

The moving blanket will keep it clean until delivery day.

The rest of the morning was spent sanding the shelves...
and more shelves...
the upper cabinets...
and finally the tops. So far so good!
To de-dust the parts prior to spraying, I decide to take everything outside. Handling the chore inside meant turning on the exhaust fan - not good when it's below freezing. I'd be tempted to spray outside too except we really don't want any snow right now...;)

With the dust blown out of the pores, you can see sparkles of sunlight reflecting off the bottom. It's where the sandpaper didn't reach to scratch the first coat. This where my luck for the day ran out.

For some reason, possibly the cold, my 8-year-old camcorder stopped working. It would come on OK and then it would shut itself off. There was also a strange little icon flashing in the viewfinder.

I consulted the manual and the icon was indicative of some un-specified "trouble", instructing me to unplug the camera and contact a Sony authorized service center.

OK, it's old and has worked great for a long time - no big deal. I went back to work and got the upper backs sprayed and the tops too. Then my luck went from bad to worse. While moving the tops around, my big feet snagged the air line connected to my new HVLP gun, pulling it off the hook. It landed on the cup and the top popped off, losing half a quart of finish on the floor. Where is the ShopCam when you need it?!

Alright, I could live with that - the floor needed re-finishing anyway. Then I realized the stem at the bottom of the cup was jarred loose and the cup is leaking finish now. After some messing around, I decided to re-assemble the unit with some silicone adhesive, giving it overnight to set up leak-free.

Hey, the rest of the week should be a breeze, right? ;)

If you have any questions or comments about Mr. D's Walnut Wall Unit, please post them at the Info Exchange.

Jim Mattson

Onward to the Next Installment

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