Finally the light at the end of the tunnel for my backbench. This past week was spent sanding, staining, and spraying the faceframes, drawer fronts and boxes, and the doors. Though my spraying technique won't win any awards, it gets better each time I shoot. Of course everything looks much better in the photos than in person.
Here are the doors drying. They are resting on brads that stick up through some scrap ply boards that are resting on top of the bench- I've haven't had a chance to make a decent drying rack. I was initially going to brush the faceframes but decided to paper and tape the openings and went ahead and sprayed them- no drips, no runs, no errors
Using a friend's method of supporting the doors on points and using a turntable, I sprayed all edges and both sides of all 15 doors and 10 drawer fronts each session. I sanded between the first and second coats- 3 coats of waterborne Target Coatings conversion varnish on the fronts and 2 on the backs. While it doesn't dry as quickly as lacquer, this stuff dries fast enough that if I hadn't had other things to do, I could have finished all three coats and the sanding in less than a day. My Binks Mach I HVLP and 2 qt pressure pot were a joy to use. Nice not having the weight and bulk of a gun mounted cup. Here is the vac cabinet door on the turntable ready for spraying.
Here is everything reinstalled with hardware- black cup pulls on the drawers and black knob pulls and hinges on the doors. I had to paint the cup pulls black - I found some cheap ones that weren't black.
I have already started filling up the drawers and cabinets with tools and supplies.
And yes, I decided to use the green wash stain and varnish on the drawer boxes, also
. Unlike the sink base, and except in a few spots, all the faceframes, doors, and drawer fronts were made with riftsawn or quartersawn oak. I don't like the look of flatsawn stock, so tried to avoid using flatsawn pieces (like the section of top rail in the picture
).
Though it is hard to tell since I cleaned it with Glass Plus, I installed glass in the upper cabinet doors.
I experimented with rare earth magnets for door catches, initially with the little 1/8" X 1/8" cylinders- too small and not strong enough. The 1/4' X 1/4" ones appear to work great with one mounted in the door edge and another opposite it on the inside edge of the faceframe. Will eventually be the subject of a separate post.
Next up: mounting of the mitersaw, installing the countertop, building the benchtop tool cubbies.
Here are the doors drying. They are resting on brads that stick up through some scrap ply boards that are resting on top of the bench- I've haven't had a chance to make a decent drying rack. I was initially going to brush the faceframes but decided to paper and tape the openings and went ahead and sprayed them- no drips, no runs, no errors
Using a friend's method of supporting the doors on points and using a turntable, I sprayed all edges and both sides of all 15 doors and 10 drawer fronts each session. I sanded between the first and second coats- 3 coats of waterborne Target Coatings conversion varnish on the fronts and 2 on the backs. While it doesn't dry as quickly as lacquer, this stuff dries fast enough that if I hadn't had other things to do, I could have finished all three coats and the sanding in less than a day. My Binks Mach I HVLP and 2 qt pressure pot were a joy to use. Nice not having the weight and bulk of a gun mounted cup. Here is the vac cabinet door on the turntable ready for spraying.
Here is everything reinstalled with hardware- black cup pulls on the drawers and black knob pulls and hinges on the doors. I had to paint the cup pulls black - I found some cheap ones that weren't black.
I have already started filling up the drawers and cabinets with tools and supplies.
And yes, I decided to use the green wash stain and varnish on the drawer boxes, also
Though it is hard to tell since I cleaned it with Glass Plus, I installed glass in the upper cabinet doors.
I experimented with rare earth magnets for door catches, initially with the little 1/8" X 1/8" cylinders- too small and not strong enough. The 1/4' X 1/4" ones appear to work great with one mounted in the door edge and another opposite it on the inside edge of the faceframe. Will eventually be the subject of a separate post.
Next up: mounting of the mitersaw, installing the countertop, building the benchtop tool cubbies.
