Whew! Made It!

And here we are, one final day with the Christmas gifts. All in all, everything turned out pretty well. I grabbed some sanding sponges from the box store (after seeing several posts on them this week touting their ability and length of service) and went to work. I did notice one thing though...the simpler the shape, it was much simpler to sand, that's for sure. But, as I made mention in an earlier post, the goal was to have variety for the gifts, and use a variety of tools and skills in their making. Both were achieved, I believe, and so I'm pretty happy with the results.


It took a bit to get them all sanded down, but a nice smooth surface was finally achieved. There were some tool marks still there, such as where the plane starts on the piece, but those were fine by me. The tough parts were where the rasp and file had left their traces, and those needed to be gone. A little elbow grease, a little coffee, and we were back on track.

Now it was time for finishing. I had several different finishes that I've used in the past with some--more or less--success, but I wasn't quite sure how they'd go on this pine, so we tried some test pieces from the off-cuts (yup, I pulled them from the trashcan under the table, luckily). I rolled out my plastic onto the table (a sliced and diced shower curtain on a gift wrap tube, and went to work.

I forgot to take a picture of how they all turned out, but let's just say there was a clear winner in this race. A little conditioner and some Golden Oak did the trick. For some reason it reminds me of some of the old country furniture I'm used to seeing. It really brought out the grain and added some character that some of the others, like the gel stain, didn't do for me. Some people don't like all the variation on how the wood holds the stains, but I think it gave them some personality. The conditioner did a pretty decent job of keeping it from getting too blotchy or washed out.

And there we have it. Projects complete, with finish. Now I have to decide on wax or a poly to top it off. Either way, I need to wait at least a day before doing anything, but I need to figure it out quick, as shipping day is much closer than I'd like!

Next year I think I'll take Mom's advice and start shopping or making in February. Much less stress.

Josh