Friday, July 26, 2019

Maple Plant Stand

Plant Stand Before
Plant Stand After
Once in a while we get a small job, such as this solid maple plant stand, which was custom made by my customer’s husband. This plant stand resembled a giant chess piece and was made from three solid pieces of maple, which must have been cut from the actual tree, using each section as a whole piece as there were no splices within the piece. While smaller by comparison to most jobs we do, it was nonetheless very time-consuming to sand down to the bare wood. This was due to the nature of the hardwood itself as well as the finish used, which was varnish. I estimate it was made sometime in the 1960’s by the color and style, but I’m not sure. I used my favorite tool, my orbital sander for the top and bottom and a small hand sander for the posts in between.

Unfortunately, the hand sander wasn’t adequate to smooth the grain sufficiently to make it smooth enough to stain, so I ended up using the orbital sander on its side to get access to the sides. It took a long time and by the time I was done, my right hand was quite sore from holding the sander with one hand and supporting the object with the other hand. I chose Varathane Walnut stain which brought out the natural tones and colors of the beautiful maple. After two coats of satin polyurethane, it was done. Short and not too simple, but nice looking when completed.

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