ScottR

6 hours ago, mistermikev said:

very nice!

Thanks Mike.

SR

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Absolutely splendid!

Thanks Andy!

SR

10 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

And after placing the table between other furniture she won't say something like "Oh, that turquoise doesn't match with the sofa" or "That's way too dark, can't you paint it" or even "All those nooks and crannies gather way too much dust, can't you just cut that top round and replace the leg with a brass trumpet?"

Actually no, that won't be an issue.

What does have me terrified though is her OCD driven desire to cover every horizontal surface in the house with crap. It's important crap to her, that she's spent untold hours pursuing and collecting. That top does not need covering up or risking getting scratched up moving a bunch of nick-knacks around on it.

SR

I'm declaring it done.

The final pics frankly don't look much different than earlier shots, but I know that the top is level and polished. None of the pours left me with a flat top without miner surface flaws like dust and fibers and house fly foot prints.

SR

Holy crap John!

You've had your share of the short end, brother.

SR

Damn, you've been busy this month!

SR

I'm gonna hafta start paying attention again!

SR

That does look great!

SR

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

The only American comic booklet that really has stood the test of time here is Donald Duck, starting from 1952 and still going strong!

Calvin and Hobbes rocks!

SR

13 hours ago, avengers63 said:

I see a lake with dead foliage all around, with a lone living patch. Kind of a cursed swamp thing

My son swears it looks like an aerial view of topography.

SR

8 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Well...the WOW first.  And many thanks for the talk through the propane torch/bubbles techniques  

Cheers Andy!

That's a relatively simple step that makes all the difference in the world, and one I knew nothing about previously. Thank goodness for youtube videos, although be fair, Total Boat does include the step in their directions.

SR

I've been traveling and working on the finish....which doesn't show a lot of variety in pictures. Here's a few purely for documentation.

It is difficult to see the surface variations is this shot. They exist and need to be leveled before the next coat goes on.

They show up a bit better here.

This is good stuff.

I've been pumping in the resin and letting it sit a bit to let bubbles rise. Then I hit it with a hair dryer which thins it and lets the bubbles rise even better and helps pop them at the surface. Then add the hardener and stir slowly and gently and  let that sit for about 5 minutes. Then pour it on and spread it around with a squeegee. Next is the magic part. You go over the surface with the flame from  a propane torch. Bubbles almost jump to the surface and pop. You have to stay far enough away to not burn anything and it was too tricky to get an action shot. Then I watch it flow and see if any low spots develop. I save back a bit of epoxy in the cup and add a bit to any low spots and then torch those.

here the top has had all the surface sanded to 220 and wiped with alcohol.

And that was the last pour. This stuff fully cures in 5 to 8 days. Then I'll do the final leveling and polishing.

SR

On 5/8/2023 at 9:01 AM, mistermikev said:

not to take anything away from that stunning top... but this view right here is mezmerising to me.

I agree Mike.

I'm going to have to display this so that view is available...

SR

2 hours ago, mistermikev said:

you are spot on there.  I went looking at old mandolin headstocks when I came up with that.  Have always loved those mandolin scrolls.  Going to be a real challenge to do multi layer binding on that with curved joins... not sure how I'm gonna pull that off but I'm committed to trying anyway!

Yeah, that pretty much kicked my ass on that mandolin kit I built some years back. It was only the second binding job I'd ever attempted (and last) and I was in way over my head. It'll make you sweat a bit, but you'll pull it off nicely.

SR

This should be fun!

If I remember correctly, Gibson started out as a mandolin company. That headstock still has a lot of mandolin in it.

SR

This finish is a long way from being finished, but if it were a finished finish it would look quite a bit like this.

The resin in the crushed turquoise did clear up and now it looks a lot more densely packed.

Not done, but closer to being finished.

SR

48 minutes ago, avengers63 said:

In hindsight, it seems best to me too mix the sizes of stones when doing the inlay. You have large voids, so you used larger stone. This left noticeable gaps. Mixing in a smaller grit would have helped fill those in. 

There were some small grit in the selection and I crushed some of the chips as well. Where I could have done better.....had I figured out how was to see what was actually at the level of the table top when the stone was in a pile over the cavity. It felt pretty densely packed, but obviously there were gaps between nuggets. The clear that is going over the top should make subsurface stones more visible and improve the look.

It is what it is--no do-overs here.

SR

I'm looking forward to a review on that bandsaw John.

I'm not sure any of us deserve our women, but ain't it nice when referring to them as our better half is a statement of fact instead of a cliche?

SR

That is sooooo sexy!

SR

I left this overnight. It sets up in 4 to 8 hours and is okay for light use after 24, and fully cures in 5 to 8 days. It felt very hard to me the next morning.

At which point I commenced to sanding rocks. Wood is easier.

I see I left a ton of sanding scratches from the rock leveling. Back to work

SR

Time for a little cavity filling.

I mixed up more Zpoxy 30 minute and filled the largest cavities to about a quarter inch shy of the lip.

That amount of epoxy did generate some heat. Once it had set up and fully cooled, I piled in turquoise chips into the cavities and left them standing proud in little piles.

Then I mixed up some of my table top epoxy. This is a brand I saw on several youtube videos. It was getting great accolades and comparisons to West Systems, but about half the price. The brand is Total Boat. Very clear and self leveling. I did some testing on scrap to see if my plan for the edges would work. So far I'm pretty impressed.

SR

That ebony board is HOT!

SR

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

It's not wasted time. You've spent all those hours and months doing a service for the Lady of the House instead of practicing scandalous behaviour on the streets like kicking grannies and cursing in public.

So true. I've got to get this knocked out though. The neighborhood grannies are getting pretty dang cheeky lately.

SR

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

The carve on that supporting tree is off the scale.  I can't begin to imagine how many hours that has taken.

Andy!

Thanks.

Looking back, I see I'm past thirteen months of weekends on this project. Averaging  10 to 15 hours a weekend for 58 weekends so far......that's a fair bit of math and a proper butt-load of hours.

SR