Coffee Table Redo

After two coats of West System Special Coating Clear Epoxy on Mike's coffee table, I've come to a conclusion. It is not acceptable.
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The sanding job is just too sub par. So I'm going to refinish the bottom of the tabletop and get the sanding done right.
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The problem is a penetrating stain and swirl marks that have shown up through the finish.
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I'm sure that the vast number of you unsophisticated Peeps would find no problem in it, and would give your usual annoying "oohs" and "ahs". But my standing as a Mountain of a Man cannot compromise on this.
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It must be redone.

Tuna Lips said...

Looks like my shorts after a few days on the road and a tad too much fiber, what with that big racin' stripe down the middle.

Happy Easter

Easter is a nice holiday. You don't get any days off, and it doesn't get controversial in church and state debates, so the PC police have yet to infiltrate it. There are no big expectations for rituals, so the family pressures are generally low.
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Maybe it's because the day fluctuates - never falls on the same day.
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Anyway, some of my best memories revolve around the Easter Egg hunts that Joanne used to stage for the kids.... and just the family getting together and horsing around.
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Now it's even better with the grandkids in the picture.
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I'm sure that my grandkids probably aren't the cutest in the world, but they are until you can beat this.

Masters in Augusta

I'm totally into the Masters this year... and I haven't a clue why. Those of you who know better understand just how bad I am at golf. I make Charles Barkley's swing seem sweet.
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But the Masters definitely caught my attention.
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My friend Bill Hillegas is a buddy with Jim Furyk and he is in the race after the first day. I like Furyk, and also like Mike Wier, and Phil Mikelson, because they are lefties.
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My favorite is a little known African Filipino American named Tiger Woods. Keep your eye on him... he's a comer.

POTW Week 14

Since I've been fairly out straight with Nanepashemet Telecom this week, it was nice for Tuna Lips to make an appearance. He is one funny sonofabitch, and really takes the pressure off of me from having to come up with pithy remarks on a consistent basis.
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And I haven't been feeling too pithy lately anyway.
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Today would have been a great day to put in some time on the Workbench and Mike's Coffee Table, but I had to spend the whole freaking day trying to make money. How Lame is That!!!! It's about time that somebody offered me one of those paid sabbaticals that the college professors get, so that they can allow their creative juices to rejuvenate.
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Need to get one of those gigs.
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Announcing....
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Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 14th week of 2009.

Dale Johnson
Dustin Padroia
Sarah Crawford
Jessica Rincon
Terrence Swhwab
Kevin Calnan
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Don't worry.... If I had a sabbatical, I'd still keep posting to this pathetic blog.

Paypoint Pain Killer

Made the drive to Old Lyme, New London and Groton, Connecticut this morning with a modicum of success. But a 2 3/4 hr. one way drive always takes it out of you.
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Anything over two hours in a car is physically taxing, but it helps if you make a paypoint. This trip brought Nanepashemet Telecom closer to two of them that should be realized by the end of the week.
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That definitely dulls the pain.

Tuna Lips said...

You might consider stopping in at them injun gamblin' parlors along the seaboard there. Dens of iniquity they is, pour a mean glass of free fire water. Them redskin's slaked they thirst on Pappy's 'shine til we could rob 'em of what they had in their satchels! I got me an on-again-off-again gal down there, I calls her Lil' Spread Eagle to protect the innocent. She gets a little ornery about my breathin' on her, but otherwise, I'd recommneds her to the Spirit in the Sky - that's injun parlance for the Almighty, 'cept they heathens. Cheap enuff too, at a sawbuck per table dance.

Coffee Table Surge

Didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked on the workbench today in a sunny afternoon in the driveway.
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Figuring out how the tail vise was going to work turned out to be problematic.
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But Mike's coffee table is another matter.
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I never thought that I would get it all sanded with a sealer coat of clear epoxy applied so soon.
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Maybe it will even get done in time for his move in date.

The pictures detail the glued up panels prior to sanding, the completed sanding and the first coat of epoxy.
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The base will be constructed of 2 in. thick, glued up meranti mahogany stock.
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One more coat of epoxy to the top and then about 4 coats of sprayed marine varnish over the entire table to follow.
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Double click on the pictures to zoom in.

Forging On

When the sun made an appearance this Saturday morning, I decided to take advantage and move forward with the workbench and coffee table projects. Gluing panels always takes a lot of room and I had to move the operation into the driveway. But I got both the tops for my workbench and Mike's coffee table glued and ready for sanding and finishing.
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I know that a I owe you pictures.
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I also set up the Jet mortising machine, the Grizzly tenon tablesaw jig and the Leigh dovetail jig upgrade.
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So it was a very productive day in the garage and driveway.
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Tomorrow, if the weather is right, I'm going to trim out the dovetailed aprons of the workbench and see if I can install the tail vise.
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Then we will concentrate on the bases for both the Coffee table and the Workbench.

Check Please

We had a nice dinner last night with Will and Lynda Murray at the Boston Yacht Club.
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I just bought an industrial condo from Will in Peabody to use for Nanepashemet Telecom, and it was Joanne's birthday, so he picked up the check.
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A class move.
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Generally, I like to pick up the check. Not because I am overly generous, but because I always get embarrassed splitting the check for some reason. Don't know why. So usually I reach for the check to avoid what is, to me, an awkward situation.
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But it's nice when someone beats me to it.

Testing the Water

Jim Cramer says it's time to get back into the stock market.
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It does seem like the market has hit bottom and is starting to turn back up. The telecom stocks seem to be fairly undervalued.
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The trouble is that every time I've entered the market, I have lost money.... not a ton, but enough to feel like a dufus.
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Maybe I'll just stick my big toe in.

Peep of the Week - 13

I had the opportunity to select the Peeps yesterday.
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Thursday is the official selection day. But I didn't feel like it. And you can't make quality and responsible decisions if your head isn't into it. After all... the POTW selections are just too important to handle on a casual basis.
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But this morning is another story.
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I got up feeling ready to challenge the day, and my first task will be to Purposefully Perpetuate this Pathetic Peep Process. ("P" is one of my favorite letters.)
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ANNOUNCING....
Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 13th week of 2009

Ryan Nestor
Mike Rockett
Kathy Peabody
Lauren Crawford
Peter Krupp
Jeremy Johnson

Next week, I'll try to get this done on Thursday, but I'm not promising anything.

Bad Addiction

Everybody copes somehow.
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My coping mechanism is to buy tools on Amazon late at night.
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And ... Oh Baby!..... Have I been Coping lately!!!!
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This week's stress has been Amazon's gain.
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Did I need a Specialized Power Mortising machine??? Nope.
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Did I get one?
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Yep.
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Did I need a Tenon Jig for my tablesaw???? Nope.
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Did I get one?
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Yep.
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Did I need an upgrade kit for my Leigh Dovetail Jig???? Nope.
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Did I get one?
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Yep.
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Believe me... this list can continue to the point where you can ascertain that I have a real problem. Lucky for me that Joanne doesn't read this Blog too often, because the cost of this stuff is really starting to add up.

Pier Four

After a lovely afternoon at the Joe Moakley house, we went over to the venerable Anthony's Pier Four restaurant, which is still serving one hell of a slice of prime rib with a popover after all of these years.
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It was Joanne's birthday, and the dinner was spur of the moment, but we couldn't have planned a better venue.
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Maybe we'll grab another meal there around August or so.