I hate finishing!

[fletty]

I doubt that I am alone in this but I HATE FINISHING my woodwork projects. I love designing, obtaining, choosing and dressing the timber, making components, assembling and even sanding but I HATE FINISHING.
Last weekend, while Helen was away, I started a new piece of furniture for me to store my clothes and get them up from the USL (Universal Storage Location = the floor).
I made it out of porta radiata panels and a couple of storage systems from Howards Storage Solutions. Some of you know that my house is full of old chinese furniture, the bedroom is no different, and so this piece had an old Chinese cupboard to match. I had completed it, except for the drawers, by Sunday morning and then I was faced with finishing and, I don't know if I've told you before, but I HATE FINISHING!
I had recently had a bad experience with my old favourite Wattyl stain but they had the colour I needed, traditional cedar, so I bought a fresh tin and stirred and shook and paddled it and slapped it on and rubbed it back. Sunday was stinking hot, my perspiration dropped onto the workpiece, some stain splashed and spilt and the blobs didn't get seen or wiped off until too late. By this stage ALL humour had disappeared!
Once the staining debacle was finished and rubbed back, there were dark patches under the stain from my sweat and/or unseen spills of stain. I looked carefully at the centuries old chinese cupboard, yup, dark patches under the stain, but this cupboard had matured to this state over hundreds of years and not in the last hour like the new cupboard.
Now, for the clear coat, my new favourite Minwax wipe-on poly, 3 coats always give me a great result ... but apparently not when the temp is 42degC (108degF for our American pals). The 3 coats of wipe-on were still sticky hours later
Hmmmm, reach for another old friend, steel wool and Danish oil, rub it in and rub it out. Now it is a smooth as a baby's bottom, right colour, dark blobs under the stain ... and already looks like it is well on its way to 400 years old, an interesting juxtaposition with the 21st Century storage system!!
Fast forward to Monday night, the stickyness is gone, still smooth, blobs still there and more appearing, neighbour has gone out, so I carry it up the house by myself, the dings against assorted trees. steps, brick corners all adding to the 'rich patina of life' and making it look older and more used than the original chinese cupboard.
I finally get it through the front door, the traditional cedar marks on the carpet must have come from left over, unsealed stain under the feet , the traditional cedar stains on my arms and chest soon blossom into the deep purple bruises that they really are, it travels past the chinese cupboard which says hello to the new piece that it now regards as being older and more reverential than it, and the new piece settles into it's corner .... at least it fits!
Is there anyone in Sydney who actually likes finishing and would take my creations and return them finished?

Fletty

[wheelinround]

Fletty sorry but your not alone just think what my surname is......

Fletty is now colour

snap out of it read can say's like many products do wont work past 38C
humidity doesn't help this is one big mistake they don''t put it on can's

To blood sweat and tear drops its why spray painters wear white body suits, gloves and apply face creams to stop drips happening and they use spray rooms with fans going thats why they are also bean poles.

So where's the photo's of said product

sorry Fletty I do sympathise honest

Ray

[RufflyRustic]

I'm so sorry Fletty, but




I can only sympathise, as I don't think Toowoomba's had any 42 degree days. The closest would have been last Friday where it hit about 34 degrees and I chickened out and hid in the air con all day

At least the old Chinese cupboard will keep the new piece in order

cheers
Wendy

[watson]

Wonderful story..........so its not just me

[Cruzi]

Finishing is the most challenging, most time consuming and most important part of woodworking.

On more than one occasion it has been very frustrating, but the satisfaction that comes from a well finished piece is worth it.

From simple things like customers caressing a piece to other woodies saying it looks like you could dip your hand into the piece, all means the effort was worth it.

[ravlord13]

I have no probs with finishing,
I'm not allowed to do it.
TLOML does all of ours, She says that I am too heavy handed and leave more marks than I remove.
Kim does a fantastic job and has had several queries from people who want finishing jobs done but she will only do our work which suits me fine.

Catch Ya
Andrew

[Chipman]

I have no probs with finishing,
I'm not allowed to do it.
TLOML does all of ours, She says that I am too heavy handed and leave more marks than I remove.
Kim does a fantastic job and has had several queries from people who want finishing jobs done but she will only do our work which suits me fine.

Catch Ya
Andrew

Now I am not only a bit green about your work but your finisher
I haven't been able to get anyone in my family anywhere near woodwork!

Seriously, finishing can be very frustrating and I have been like fletty.. always felt that the finishing lets me down.

My suggestion, experiment a bit and find what works but it boils down to:

Preparation, know your timber and how it reacts (ie oily timbers need to be treated differentl or your finishes never dry or may lift off)
Allowing enough time for stains and coatings to dry properly between coatings (don't get impatient)
Avoid extreme weather conditions (heat, cold, humidity)
And my biggest problem!!!! never fiddle... if a speck of dust or something falls into your finish...leave it alone and fix it after it dries
I can't say I enjoy it now but I certainly feel a lot more confident of getting a finish I am more comfortable with than previously.

Cheers,

Chipman

[Christos]

I am another person that it not the best at finishing. I do not mind painting a house etc but when it comes to finish a job that is another story.

The last piece that repaired for a friend had gone out foor him to finish. Let dust at his house.

[Rattrap]

Well i'm almost embarresed to say it but i don't mind finishing at all, i'd even go so far as to say that i like it.
I grab a few beers, throw on some of my fav tunes then sing my heart out as i apply my finish. rofl. serious.
I even feel a little disappointed when a coat is finished but i'm not.

[Tex B]

I'm also in the 'don't mind finishing' camp. I learned a while back that with woodworking, as with life, a good finish can cover a lot of mistakes.

So I take it slow, let things dry between coats, try not to work in extremes of temp. Most of my finishing is done with a wipe on, wipe off finish (WOP, shellac, maloof mixture, etc) and it's easy for me to get in a zone with some good blues playing.

It does mean that it sometimes takes me a week or so to finish a piece, sometimes doing fifteen or twenty minutes a day, but that kind of suits my schedule anyway.

Sorry for your pain, Fletty, but I really enjoyed your well written story and it sounds like a fairly happy ending (except maybe the stain on the carpet).

Tex

[fletty]

...I've finished the drawers, stained, minwax'd and oilled the faces ...TWICE ... and now drinking!
Many thanks for your comments, support and insights ... BUT I STILL HATE FINISHING!

Fletty

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I can sooo relate to that! I hate finishing with a passion. So much so, that more than half of my long-term WIPs are complete, apart from applying a finish. (Some have been left unfinished for so long that really I should completely rebuild 'em... )

Can I ask why you didn't fit doors over the storage system? Style? Practical reasons? Couldn't be bothered?

Just being curious...

[fletty]

There's a whole pile of answers to that question Skew,
Basically I woke, had some time on the weekend and decided to make something to get my clothes in order, it would have to match the Chinese cabinet which has a lot of open fretwork but I didn't want to put THAT much work into it! I started to think of adjustable shelves, drawers, and then remembered the drawer units from Howards.
It was never going to be an family treasure so it morphed into an open cabinet, 2 storage units to mimic the 4 panels of open fretwork and 3 drawers to mimic the 3 on the Chinese cabinet.
The Chinese cabinet is unusual in that it was originally for keeping chooks. Yup, battery hens go back centuries! Inside each piece of fretwork is a rebate that takes a solid piece to close off each pen and the 'floor' of each pen is made of parallel dowels.
It was sort of form following function ... with an eye on the chooks!
Fletty

[wheelinround]

Looks great and practical .................

[Waldo]

Fletty, send your furniture down to me, then I can say, "Look dear I made this and it didn't take me long either." Then when she says, "And where are you going to put that?", I'll finish it for you and send it back.