More finished projects

So, a long time ago, Melissa decided to build a shelf. Then with a variety of circumstances, including a VERY cold winter, the shelf sat dormant on the... shelf in the shop.

I finally decided that Sandi's tray and Melissa's shelf, along with Brandon's garbage bins needed to be finished... literally. Spent the week of St Paddy's day with about 2-3 hrs every night at the wood shop. I would spend about 30 mins spraying the stuff, then have to clean the sprayer and do it all over again the other night.

Here's the play by play:

Originally, I had 1 coat of varathane on the back side of all the parts for the shelf. So, I sanded and put on another coat.

Then flip the parts and spray them. (keep in mind, its about an hours work to clean the spray gun). Then sand out the rough spots and spray again.

Then the shelf got assembled into the "upper" half and the "lower" half. One more coat of varathane.



Then the assembly. All went well here once I figured out the fasteners to use. The back of the shelf got 5 pocket holes in it, and 4 counter sunk screws. In all, you should be able to sit on this shelf with no fear of it breaking. So, the shelf is in two halves, should be easy to assemble... only about 12 more nails. WRONG.


I took out the finishing nailer and drove in the first nail. BANG! Nothing. Tried again. CLICK. Nothing. So I thought it was jammed. Took the gun apart and realized the pin that drives the nail was slightly rusted and stuck forward. Weird, it should return on its own. I pushed it back and lubed it with some oil. Went to drive the next nail. BANG. It worked on a test piece. Better try it twice though, I thought. CLICK. Nothing. Hmm... the pin must be stuck again. I'd better check it. Opened it up again. Yup, its siezed. Pushed it back. BANG. One nail. BANG. Two nails. BANG. Three nails. I'm on a roll. CLICK. Nothing. Opened it up again. Pin is stuck again. But this time its not moving.


After a phone call, I decided to tear the gun apart and fix the siezed part. Took the back off of the gun and little pieces of plastic fell everywhere. Turns out the front part of the cylinder that the piston rides in had completely shattered. 8 more nails to go... no air gun. I was definately not pounding them in by hand. So I put all the tools away and just as I was about to give up. I found slightly shorter nails that fit the smaller gun.

So, I was able to finish the shelf.


I tried ordering the part for the gun. Turns out you have to be a certified 'repair' person to order parts for the nailer. I guess most people just pay to have people fix things. Not this guy. Its only gonna cost me $30 or so to get the part. Finding the part is a whole story in itself.

You came up with one pretty nice shelf, Melissa. I had to put up with a lot of heckling because of the heart in it though.

Safety first :)