I’ve decided that I need something made out of wood to use for photographs. As the counter tops are old yellow plastic-y laminate, and the floors are unfortunate vinyl or carpet, and the dining table is almost black, and really really big cutting boards and butcher blocks are prohibitively expensive, I figured I’d just make what I wanted [of course I did].
Had a rough idea of what I was looking for and the answer came in the form of tongue and groove cypress pine floorboards – some how significantly cheaper than plain pine 1×4’s [really? how is that possible?] and with so much more character. Cut to size at the store, even better. Some sandpaper to smooth it out a bit, batons, glue and nails to hold it all together and off I went.
First I lightly sanded down the boards using 320 grit paper, wiped them down to clean off the dust and ran a bead of wood glue down the joins to secure them.
Once all the boards were stuck together it was time to secure them, the batons were glued on then attached with pin nails. I should have clamped the whole thing – or at least a couple bits at a time – and let it dry for longer, probably should have drilled then screwed instead of using nails as well but this is dodgy balcony DIY, not a Carpentry blog or a fancy TV show…and there is no plan [currently] to use this as a sled or a wakeboard so I think we’ll be fine.
The final step was to give the whole thing a polish with beeswax and some steel wool – my secret fix-or-polish-anything-wood weapon, used the same thing on my op-shop chair with brilliant results – and a quick buff with a clean rag.
Looks promising – and always good when something with very little plan, goes to plan!
You really don’t want to hear that it’s genetic….the “I can make that…” part. Mom