Sawdust on the Floor

As you may know, if you have been reading along with this site, I have been actively doing wood working for over 30 Years. And in that time I have made quite few projects for around the house or as gifts for friends. And during that same time, I have tried many different finishing techniques. And I wish I could tell you that I remember each one but my memory isn’t that good.

So who cares? I do, because recently a hall table I made was damaged. The top was deeply scratched and I needed to refinish it. The problem was I didn’t remember how I had done it originally. Only after a little detective work was I able to figure it out and refinish it and it’s now drying in the shop

So I got to thinking, how do I prevent such a problem in the future? I finally locked onto the idea of a project book. I decided to take a picture of the project, and put it into the book along with any drawing, shop notes and finish material used. I decided to use this method of remembering what I did, not to puff up my ego, but because I as the grey hairs grow, I think my memory shrinks.

Having spent several years in the military, and now on my current job, I have had a chance to visit most of the great states in the US.  Some I really loved, some…well let’s just say I was there and leave it at that.

One of the biggest differences I found during my travels is humidity, or the lack of.  Some places like the Southwest, don’t know the joy of the three H’s, Hazy, Hot and Humid.    Humidity is a pain, not just for bad hair days, but for finishing a woodworking project.  I have found that when the relative humidity is over 70%, it is nearly impossible to get a finish to dry.

A stained finish tends to remain sticky even after several days of drying. If polyurethane was used,  it will appear to be dry, however, as soon as you try to sand it, it comes off in little balls.  What a mess.

My woodworking shop has an air conditioner installed. The original thought was that it would handle the humidity.  It helped, but it is not enough. So I have added a Dehumidifier to the shop.  I purchased a stand alone unit with enough capacity to handle the entire shop.

The dehumidifier removes the water from the air in the shop.  The water is collected in a tank in the bottom of the unit. For the first two days I had it in place, I had to empty the tank about every 4 hours.

I now leave the unit running in my shop any time I have a project in the finish stages.  In fact, I start the unit two to three days before I start finishing something.

If you decide to add a Dehumidifier, it’s a good idea o clean out the reservoir with bleach every once in a while.  Mold and algae tend to grow in the tank if left unattended.  Also take your air gun or shop vacuum to the intake vents.  These get clogged with the normal shop dirt.