What are you building right now?

[spiderwrangler]

Last thing I finished was a walnut queen bed my dad made for us. Shellac finished with poly. Walnut and cherry may be my two favorite woods as far as looks.

[Ozwald]

Last thing I finished was a walnut queen bed my dad made for us. Shellac finished with poly. Walnut and cherry may be my two favorite woods as far as looks.

2nd to my wood of course.

It's said you're not supposed to cover shellac with poly (unless it's the unwaxed shellac) but honestly I've never heard of someone having adhesion problems because of it. I do like shellac, but you can't spill beer on it so I just don't use it at all for my own stuff purely out of safety. I'm a clumsy fucker. Especially when I have a beer in my hand. I don't even have to be drunk to pour a few ounces down the front of my shirt.

I have too many I really like to decide on a favorite. Walnut is really nice, I dig Chestnut too. Then there's all the exotics... Wenge, Padauk, Cocobolo (that one's high on the list), Jatoba... the list goes on and on.

[JakeAndBake]

Nice shelf! Over engineer much?

Well, I was going to say that ever since I got used to using Sketchup, most of my projects are pretty much overengineered, but this one might fall into the "I should have thought this out a bit more" category. When I got it home, it was not only too tall to fit in my little 36" high brewing closet, but too long to go in with the door shut if I even got it in. I think I'm gonna do the finishing work, put a curtain on it to hide the middle contents and leave it in the kitchen. I was disappointed, because I thought it was a pretty good solution to the "girlfriend doesn't like my brewing stuff laying around" problem, but she did point out that having it on a shelf meant it at least wasn't stacked around haphazardly. Everything fits on it perfectly, at least!

I think sanding and a few coats of some spray-on poly are all it will get, I might go with your high-gloss poly with an outer coat of matte idea, because that solves my biggest issue I've had with poly.

Work starts on my giant Mylo-inspired Keggerator next weekend, hopefully, as long as I can get the time to grab the wood. I'll make sure and put up some pictures once I get some decent progress.

[Ozwald]

Nice shelf! Over engineer much?

Well, I was going to say that ever since I got used to using Sketchup, most of my projects are pretty much overengineered, but this one might fall into the "I should have thought this out a bit more" category.

I have yet to check that program out; I've heard quite a bit about it from other woodworkers, but I've always been a graph paper kind of guy. My brain works mathematically so it's never been much of an issue. I always have to laugh at some of the wooden brew stands out there using piles of 2x4's. My current one that's getting ready to be replaced is a fairly minimal design built from pine 1x2's. I've used it with a Sankey HLT & a 10g cooler MLT with no problems & I've even had a full 30g on the upper tier. It's got a little wobble with the big kettle up there, but that's because the minimalist design - 1 1x2 diagonal support correctly placed (& held in place with fast clamps even) takes care of that easily. Not that one couldn't use 2x4's (especially if they're scrap that's just laying around) but mine weighs next to nothing & I can pop it in the back of my Subi in less than a minute w/o any disassembling anything.

I've always been a fan of the wooden brewstand & not for cost reasons, in fact my new one will be all wood & probably end up costing me more than any stainless stand depending on the wood variety I finally settle on (jatoba, cocobolo & figured bubinga are being considered, with a few others).

When I got it home, it was not only too tall to fit in my little 36" high brewing closet, but too long to go in with the door shut if I even got it in. I think I'm gonna do the finishing work, put a curtain on it to hide the middle contents and leave it in the kitchen. I was disappointed, because I thought it was a pretty good solution to the "girlfriend doesn't like my brewing stuff laying around" problem, but she did point out that having it on a shelf meant it at least wasn't stacked around haphazardly. Everything fits on it perfectly, at least!

I think sanding and a few coats of some spray-on poly are all it will get, I might go with your high-gloss poly with an outer coat of matte idea, because that solves my biggest issue I've had with poly.

Do I need to mail you a tape measure? Definitely give the gloss/gloss/matte technique idea a try. You'll be surprised at the difference between that & just several coats of matte. It completely takes care of the cloudy/plastic look that has earned poly a bad rep. And it'll give you a great, low maintenance protective finish too. Can't wait to see pictures of the finished product. Feel free to include a picture of the not-unhappy lady admiring it as well.

[Ozwald]

2nd layer of floor is almost in! Taking a break from rasping out the drain hole. I wish I knew that this was going to take an extra layer of flooring because I probably have room for the trench drain now, but the circular one is fine too... just a little more squeegee'n.

[Ozwald]

2nd layer of floor is almost in! Taking a break from rasping out the drain hole. I wish I knew that this was going to take an extra layer of flooring because I probably have room for the trench drain now, but the circular one is fine too... just a little more squeegee'n.

The IIC (that's Idiot In Charge) didn't buy enough plywood or screws... or more like they got used in other projects. Luckily I don't need the window panel for the A/C from the old apartment which just happened to be the same kind of ply. I'm not going to town for a week or 3, but I was able to get in touch with someone who needed to run to town & is bringing me some screws a bit later today. It'll get wrapped up tomorrow morning. After that floor & getting the lawn mowed, it's beer thirty.

[Ozwald]

A few mornings ago I saw a pile of junk sitting next to the road & as I was slowing down to turn right after it I saw a wooden table & the free sign. It was about 4 am out in the middle of nowhere so I couldn't get that good of a look at it but figured what the hell, I can always rip it apart & salvage some of the wood or toss it in the burn barrel. All the other stuff was questionable at best (furniture with cushions harboring who knows what & a bit of old particleboard stuff) so I just grabbed the table.

I finally got around to taking a closer look at it today and even though the top isn't salvageable as a table top since it's as warped as a gentle rolling sea & varies from 3/8" to 1/4" it's still some pretty nice wood... walnut perhaps (I just sanded a little spot on it so far). I can probably bring it down to bare wood, cut it into strips & glue it together for a segmented bowl or something.

The base looks great (to a woodworker anyways, pretty far gone, but good joinery & completely salvageable. It doesn't appear to be the same wood as the top but I only spent a couple minutes breaking it down so it wouldn't take up as much room in the corner of the shop, but eventually I'll get around to refinishing it, build a new top for it & have a nice little work table in the brewery. All in all, not a bad score.

[12stones]

So, Oz, is the plan to take this brewery pro or what?