Day 79: Coat One Completed

I finished the final seven keys of the Tru-Oil first-coaters last night. I must admit, getting the shine off the keys after they've set up for a week was not easy and, as you know, sanding/buffing is not my favorite task, so it wasn't much fun. I took a break every couple of keys and fumbled around on other stuff, so it wasn't unbearable, just not particularly enjoyable.  Gotta take the good with the bad, right?

Regardless of whether I like a task or not, I still love being in the shop; it's where I'm meant to be. At all times.

On a couple of unrelated notes, I sold the Grizzly jointer I picked up a few weeks ago. After thinking about how much I actually use a jointer and talking it over with fellow woodworkers who use the table saw for much of their joining prep work, I decided the good, old Delta was good enough for me. Besides, how could I let all that elbow grease move out the door, right? The Grizzly went to another cool Craigslist dude who actually paid me more than my asking price. Bravo, cool dude!

As you can see in the second photo above, I tore it down and tuned it up before letting it go. The fence needed to be straightened and it needed some general clean up, so there it is.

We also have a visitor to Tortuga Early Instruments Worldwide Headquarters! A Facebook friend and fellow luthier, Darrel Wallen, caught wind of the electric cello side project and was kind enough to loan me an instrument he will be restoring so I could take some measurements and get a better feel for the instrument.

I appreciate Darrel's help with this because I've never owned a cello and only have drawings from which to work. Luthiers are some of the most helpful and generous people in the world and I'm thankful to have a few of them as friends. The instrument will return to its rightful home this coming Saturday. I shall miss it.

Until next time...