Day 8 - Sutton

Well, let it be known to all that A-Term 2021 is officially over which means I have one A-Term left in my entire life. What a heavy thought to end the day. 

My last day of the Advanced Wood Working course started at 8:30am on the dot as there was absolutely no time to waste. My first task was to use a tiny, thin saw to chop the excess Babinga wood off of the splined miter joints. This grueling process was most definitely the worst two hours of my life, and that is coming from the same girl who had also gotten her first fender bender in front of the entire high school two days before. It was truly awful. When Mr. Grisbee was demonstrating, he looked like he was cutting butter and made it seem so smooth and simple. When I tried, however, it was like I was chopping into solid graphene (which, if you didn't know, is the strongest material in the world). Not only this, but I had to stand outside in the 100% humidity while wearing a mask and a very thick t-shirt. Mr. Grisbee kept telling me to move as if I were listening to classical music, in that it should be a very smooth and sturdy process. No way Jose. Not only can I not come up with a single classical song in my head (don't hate me!), I despise classical music and thinking of it made me want to saw in an even more aggressive manner. Needless to say, myself and the saw were dripping with sweat when the last cut was complete. I solemnly swear to never use that saw again for as long as I live. 

With the hardest part out of the way, it was time to use the sander. This completely transformed the dog bowl sand from a gluey/woody messy into a sleek/slick masterpiece. The satisfying and pain-free process made me feel much more restored and replenished from the past two hours of pure suffering. 

After our lunch break, I did some hand-sanding around the circle holes of the dog bowl stand and was ready to glue on the maple board. Mr. Grisbee said it was super important that the board was clamped down tightly after gluing it so, after I finished applying the glue, I used every clamp in the Tinkeria. Mr. Grisbee thought it was funny and said it was "overkill." At first, I was slightly offended, but then he said it was a good thing. Aww yeah. 

I then spent some time on the frame for the mermaid tail diorama commission piece. I felt like a full bred lumber jack for a solid hour as I jointed, planed, and table saw-ed all by myself. It is crazy to see how much my confidence and knowledge in woodworking has skyrocketed since J-Term. Knowing that I have the power and capability to potentially move out of my house and build my own mansion at any given second keeps me tingling. 

Anyways, it was then time to unclamp the clamps so that I could do a final sanding and apply the varnish. I sanded with 320 grit which made the dog bowl stand feel SO soft. I was about to begin applying the varnish when I realized that the stand was quite wobbly. If there is one thing I know gets on Baker's nerves, it is a wobbly dog bowl stands. He just can't handle it. I showed Mr. Grisbee and, after a few trials and errors with the table saw, we achieved a non-wobbly stand. Perfect!

I varnished the wood outside to avoid the sawdust, and the stand looked like a new person. The splined miter joints became much more exaggerated and dramatic and the wood looked beautiful. The "Tried and True Wood Varnish" Gods must have been smiling down on me because I had exactly enough varnish to slather over my entire piece. I will be leaving the stand at school over Easter weekend because I still need to apply more layers, especially since the stand will likely encounter many water droplets.

To end the day, we did a major clean up and a big photo shoot. It is so fun to see how unique everyone's project is and how they all fall under the realm of "advanced wooden projects" in different ways. I have thoroughly enjoyed this course and am so glad I chose a project that allowed me to experiment with a variety of new tools and practice new techniques (except for the little saw of death, of course). If you told freshmen Sutton that she would soon be an advanced wood worker, she would have looked you up and down and thought you were crazy. As I become more and more advanced, my desire to learn becomes greater and greater. I can't wait for my next wood working adventure!

Me and the completed dog bowl stand!

Clamp "overkill"