Woodworking as a Hobby

Many people have hobbies; the ones you use working some item with your hands.

For me, it’s wood. There is nothing wrong with oak, it makes great furniture. Pine is good but it is a soft wood. It can have a nice grain but it can “sweat” sap and it needs to be sealed.

Cherry and walnut are the two I love to work best. Both have unique grains and properly worked look like nothing else.

A person starts with a piece of rough cut lumber. Then you plane it to the thickness wanted. Next in the process is to joint the sides (make them board straight).

Now comes the time consuming part – sanding. I start with an 80 grit, then 120 and 220, but I go a little further. I use a 400 than finally a 600 finishing grit.

Cherry when it’s sanded is a very light pink. At this point a person can stain the wood to make it red, or take lye and “burn” it red. You had better be quick to wash the lye off, otherwise it will ruin the wood. Personally, I tan the wood. I use oil on the wood and then let the sun do the work.

Once the wood reaches the proper depth of color, it’s time to build the piece of furniture with the wood that you worked so hard to perfect.

Now that the table, or whatever it is, you’ve just built is finished, it is time to use the tung oil to finish it.

You pour the oil on the wood and buff and polish. It takes more than weeks. Sometimes it takes months. You can’t rush it.

Then the day comes and you know there is nothing more you can do to make it any better.

You have worked hard, making all the changes, taking all the time needed, and you have a finished item.

Kind of like all of the steps you take when writing a book.