Novel Newell Noel Note (Oak up-cycling repair!)

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nuhobby
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Novel Newell Noel Note (Oak up-cycling repair!)

Post by nuhobby »

My wife has had troubles with her study-room lamp base. It's a crappy imported cast-concrete base that finally disintegrated. Seeing this thing, I'd be REAL careful using any similarly-made exercise barbells made in China....

But I digress. It was time for a sturdy fix.

Here I am transferring the design from the original junk to a new oak crossbar scheme. I'm using dumpster-dive bed-post Oak that my neighbor kindly saved for me :)
Replacing Lamp Base.JPG
Replacing Lamp Base.JPG (139.85 KiB) Viewed 10449 times

Here is the finished base:
Finished Lamp Base.JPG
Finished Lamp Base.JPG (93.26 KiB) Viewed 10449 times

As a side note, that finished Oak base was finished in minimal time (necessary this week due to visitors arriving soon!), and it doesn't smell like oil or varnish. It just has a subtle beeswax odor.... I decided to try out the old-time "polissoir" method that is promoted by web-authors such as Don Williams http://www.donsbarn.com .

We've all heard from Nick, etc., that you can't build up much of a wax coat because new wax dissolves old wax. Well, that's true if it's a wax in a solvent mix. But raw beeswax can build decently, and have a decent grain-filling function.

Here's a paste-wax test followed by the friction-polissoir-beeswax test:
Paste Wax Segments.JPG
Paste Wax Segments.JPG (110.13 KiB) Viewed 10449 times
Polissoir Segments.JPG
Polissoir Segments.JPG (112.01 KiB) Viewed 10449 times

Happy woodworking!

Chris
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algale
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Re: Novel Newell Noel Note (Oak up-cycling repair!)

Post by algale »

Interesting project; interesting web site. Thanks for posting both.
Gale's Law: The bigger the woodworking project, the less the mistakes show in any photo taken far enough away to show the entire project!

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nuhobby
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Posts: 2312
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:34 am
Location: Indianapolis

Re: Novel Newell Noel Note (Oak up-cycling repair!)

Post by nuhobby »

I thought I would report on the "hard wax" beeswax finish which was burnished-in with a polissoir (described above).

The Oak piece has held up great!
Here is the year-old lamp-base, and a new experimental octagonal pen on it, having a similar burnished wax finish:
Beeswax Base 1 year On.jpg
Beeswax Base 1 year On.jpg (134.05 KiB) Viewed 9355 times
Happy woodworking,
Chris
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