Watcha doing?

[teddyv]

1.  Triumph is an awesome ride.  Well done.  Now buy another one so you will have parts when the first one breaks

My BIL owned an old TR7 many years ago that he was perpetually doing repairs on. One day, while underneath being frustrated with it and saying some choice words, he saw a pair of black shoes, then looked up to see the pastor standing there. His words to my BIL were, "Don't worry about it, God understands British cars."

[Athanasius]

I've been weaning off amitriptyline for months, and today is the day I stop taking it, and Propranolol. Prescribed for migraine and anxiety, but I really don't like being on either, so... let's see how horrible I feel.

Praying as well.

May you both feel free to pray for the total absence of migraines going forward!

[IMINXTC]

I've been weaning off amitriptyline for months, and today is the day I stop taking it, and Propranolol. Prescribed for migraine and anxiety, but I really don't like being on either, so... let's see how horrible I feel.

Praying as well.

May you both feel free to pray for the total absence of migraines going forward!

Indeed so!

[tango]

Fun day today. My wife and I had a couple of errands, our new daughter had the day off work so she could catch up with a few more things that need her name changed, and then we met up with her for lunch and to hang out for a while during the afternoon. Good food, good company, lots of laughs and good times.

When we got home I did a bit more sanding, trying to get into the corner spaces where the belt sander won't fit, and my orbital sanders struggle to get at everything. So after a while I took a piece of sandpaper and did it by hand, which was really tedious. But it's getting the job done, I only stopped because I was aware of sawdust and didn't want a disturbed night because of the dust.

I think tomorrow I can run the belt sander over the whole floor one last time before shifting to a finer grit and preparing to lacquer it. That will be fun, the fumes can be pretty intense and leaving the windows open in that room isn't really an option because the wind would blow the rain right in. So the best I can do is leave a window in a nearby room open and hope that helps. But before I can do that I need to reconnect some electrics, so the socket by the window works and I can fit an extractor fan.

With any luck I'll be ready to lacquer within a couple of days.

[IMINXTC]

"Every time I read the papers

That old feeling comes on;

We’re waist deep in the Big Muddy

And the big fool says to push on."

Pete Seeger. 1967

[IMINXTC]

I've been weaning off amitriptyline for months, and today is the day I stop taking it, and Propranolol. Prescribed for migraine and anxiety, but I really don't like being on either, so... let's see how horrible I feel.

Will pray for this!

Hoping this is going well and continuing to pray for your success - zero migraine!

[tango]

I didn't get to do lacquering yet. I spent some time trying to figure out what I have to do to get an updated birth certificate for our new daughter. The department I need to work with has told me three different things so far, and the same person told me one thing over the phone and then something else in the confirmation email. But I think I've got it sorted out, the staff at our local courthouse are helpful.

I got some more sanding done, it's remarkably tricky getting into the edges and corners where the belt sander won't fit. But soon I can run it over one last time, then work through the finer grits. At the moment it's just about making sure I've got bare wood everywhere, because paint and stain get into every nook and cranny that's there, and it looks awful if I stain over the top of ancient paint.

[tango]

I got into a few more of the nooks and crannies in my floor, but need to figure a better solution to the last few. I also ran over the entire floor with 50 grit belts. I never thought I'd describe 50 grit as smooth but compared to 36 grit it really is.

Once I've got into the last of the awkward spots I'll go over it again with 80 grit, then 120, then probably a final pass with my orbital sander and 220 grit pads just to smooth the last of the scratches out.

[RabbiKnife]

Your patience amazes me

[tango]

Your patience amazes me

It can be surprisingly therapeutic. Sanding is tediously repetitive, especially when doing it by hand, but it can be relaxing.

I carved spoons for my wife and daughter and sanded them by hand. One took three hours (I know, because I did it in one sitting). The other took longer, but over multiple sittings so I forget just how long. But watching rough wood slowly turn into smooth wood is very pleasing.

In the room I'm working on I started with a manky floor that was partly painted, partly lacquered and partly faded to a dull gray after decades of exposure to the sun. Now I've got the paint and lacquer stripped and I'm looking at a beautiful golden brown wood that's 100 years old.

[tango]

More sanding today. So far I've gone over the floor with 36 grit, then 50, then 80 and today it was 120. That's the final grade to put in the belt sander.

Now I need to cut a couple of circles to plug the holes that once housed radiator pipes. I enlarged the holes from slightly under 2" to exactly 2" with a hole saw, and now plan to cut circles with a 2 1/8" hole saw that I can press into the holes, sanding if needed to trim them down a little bit. Then I can secure wood between the joists underneath them so they won't fall out if any weight is applied directly to them.

I've got another 2-3 gallons of sawdust in my separator bucket now. I'll use some of it to make a paste with lacquer to fill some cracks in the floor, and most of it will end up in the trash. Once the holes in the floor are seen to I'll run the shop vac over the floor to get the sawdust up, maybe have a quick pass over it with 220 grit sandpaper in an orbital sander, wipe it with a damp cloth to get the final bits of sawdust off, and then I can lacquer it. My wife got me some wide foam brushes today, which will make applying the lacquer quicker than using narrow brushes.

Once all this is done I can think about the next room.

And, because I don't have enough to do already, I'm thinking about buying a wood lathe so I can tinker with turning things like goblets and Christmas ornaments. I've got a load of wood kicking around, it will be good if I can come up with some ideas of what to do with it.

[Cloudwalker]

Our church had "Trunk or Treet" last night and our drama team did 3 flash mobs.  We danced to Thriller.

[teddyv]

Our church had "Trunk or Treet" last night and our drama team did 3 flash mobs.  We danced to Thriller.

That's what we're missing here... a good old "Halloween is evil" thread.

[tango]

The last part of the floor was trickier than I expected.

I drilled the radiator pipe holes out to 2" with a hole saw, then cut 2 1/8" plugs only to find they were too loose. I wasn't sure whether I wanted 2 1/4" or 2 3/8", so went for the slightly larger option figuring I could always sand it down a little, and indeed I did have to sand it down. But that's OK, my belt sander is designed so it will sit upside down and run, so I sanded them down until they fit. They aren't perfectly round any more but they are close enough, and tight enough that I needed a hammer to get them into place.

Even though the grain of the plugs doesn't match the grain of the floorboard they don't look hideously out of place. The wood is similar, it's just that the grain pattern doesn't match precisely.

Then I ran over the entire floor for one last pass with an orbital sander and 220 grit paper on it. That was kinda tedious, and by the time I was done I noticed how much sawdust was hanging in the air so I put a fan in the window to pump it out.

Tomorrow I'll run the shop vac one last time, then wipe the entire floor with a damp cloth to lift the last bits of sawdust. Then maybe on Saturday I can lacquer it. I have a couple of things happening tomorrow that would probably interfere with the schedule I'd need to lacquer it tomorrow, so it can wait another day.

[tango]

Our church had "Trunk or Treet" last night and our drama team did 3 flash mobs.  We danced to Thriller.

That's what we're missing here... a good old "Halloween is evil" thread.

My youngest new granddaughter can't decide whether she's good or evil. Her father helps with a local youth ministry and for their float in the local parade she was dressed as a vampire but she wanted a halo. I have to say she did look kinda cute, although I may not be the most impartial observer