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Stardate: 20200528.1031 | |
Location: Garage | |
Input Device: AlphaSmart dana.wireless | |
Software: AlphaWord | |
Audio: Ham radio repeater banter | |
Visual: Garage cluter, partially sanded wood cabinet | |
Emotional State: underlying on call anxiety | |
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This past weekend I was gifted by my aunt with an old, free-standing | |
wood cabinet. She is moving soon and is getting rid of stuff. The | |
cabinet was going to be donated to St. Vincent de Paul, but she gave | |
it to me instead. | |
This cabinet is pretty beat up and a bit worse for wear. Probably | |
something you would find at a garbage sale or a second-hand shop. | |
The cabinet stands upright on 4 carved legs and is a little over | |
3 1/2 feet in height, 2 feet of which is cabinet space. It has 2 | |
front doors, but the opening is pretty narrow compared to the amount | |
of space inside. Inside the cabinet is a full shelf, a 1/3 shelf, | |
and the bottom is missing. The back panel is missing as well. | |
My aunt is at least the 3rd owner of this cabinet and did not really | |
know the original purpose. She just used it for storage and I will | |
probably do the same. | |
Most people would probably see this cabinet as junk, but I see it as | |
treasure. As you can tell from some of my past gopher posts, I like | |
repurposing things and building things. I saw this cabinet as an | |
opportunity to level up my high school woodworking skills. Well, | |
that's not entirely accurate. I have leveled up since high school, | |
but shop class or "industrial arts" was my formal introduction into | |
the world of woodworking and I have been facinated in it ever since. | |
Also, since the cabinet is in pretty bad shape, I wouldn't feel too | |
bad about messing it up. | |
The cabinet was pretty dirty so I cleaned it up with a shop vac and | |
applied mineral spirits to assess the work. I also gave it a sponge | |
bath with dish soap, then dried it off. This article was helpful | |
in getting me started. [1] | |
There were some repairs that needed to be done, mostly minor cracks | |
and chipping that wood glue and putty could fix. I have not | |
identified the wood yet, but it is mostly solid. I did find veneers, | |
but it was only on the doors and the wood behind them are solid. | |
One of the nice things about this piece is that it is solid wood, | |
not press board or plywood. Most of the cheap furniture that are | |
in stores these days are made of press board or plywood and cannot | |
really be refinished, like solid wood furniture. Yeah, you save | |
money with cheap furniture, but they are basically disposable, | |
kinda like much of the electronics these days, but that is a rant | |
for another day. | |
This past Tuesday I took a day off and spent the whole afternoon | |
working on the cabinet. Originally, I just thought of cleaning it | |
up, polishing it, and being done with it. I thought about it some | |
more and decided to try doing a more thorough job. There wasn't any | |
pressing priorities and I didn't have to be anywhere so I figured | |
I'd go slow, take my time, and try to do a nice job. | |
Most of the afternoon was spent sanding. I wasn't really interested | |
in using chemical strippers to remove the old finish since I have | |
sanding tools. I have a palm power sander that I picked up at a | |
garbage sale a couple years ago and also a sanding disk drill bit | |
thing, but decided to just sand by hand. The power tools are loud | |
and make a mess. Yeah, they work faster, but since I'm taking my | |
time and didn't want to mess up the cabinet too bad, I sanded by | |
hand. | |
Man, all that sanding, I totally miss doing that! I forgot how | |
it puts me in this relaxed, meditative state where time just slips | |
away and I just lose myself in the sanding. I totally love that | |
state! The sun was out shining bright, the garage door was open, it | |
was nice and warm, just perfect! I had the music going on in my | |
garage and just got in this groove. | |
Next thing I knew, it was dinner time. The cabinet is not finished | |
and there is still much moar sanding to be done, but I'm in no hurry. | |
I can't wait to get back to it. | |
[1] How to refinish furniture | |
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