Just finished touching up the edges of the oak slab, and I will likely wait another day or two before applying the epoxy finish. It will likely take two coats, which will be applied 3 days apart, then just a bit of compound buffing and an application of clear coat and attaching the legs. Gonna make a neat end table if everything turns out right.

As soon as the oak end table is finished, I'll start on the mappa burl table, which will probably take a month or more to finish. My wife thinks I'm crazy for getting into this at my age - she's probably right.

Cheers,

Gary

Congrats Gary on your enthusiasm. Can't wait to see the final results!

Thanks Jim. Still have several days of work to do, then I have to wait for the legs to arrive that I ordered. The legs are custom made by Flowey Line Design

All the best,

Gary

I finally applied the finish coat of epoxy to the oak, end table, and now it is a 2 week wait for the legs to arrive from California, which will complete the assembly. Keep in mind this is just a test piece of wood, and the next step will be to make an electric guitar body for my son, who is an avid guitar player. I will be using a piece of Matta Burl, which is what the larger slab is made of and the final project. The guitar body will be a real challenge for this crippled up old codger. But, I ain't dead yet!

Getting there! Looking forward to the finished product. Glad you survived the chemicals and sanding dust! Good luck on the guitar next. Admire your ambition. Jim

Jim, thanks for the encouragement. No problems with the epoxy, no fumes or chemical odor, and it is food safe. As for the sanding dust, I solved that problem my purchasing a special vacuum hose that connects to my sanders and sends the dust directly to my shop vac. I don't think my lungs could handle sanding dust.

More to come,

Gary

Update: I finally finished the slab of oak to make an end table - however, the gel stain rejected the epoxy finish, therefore, I had to sand it all off down to bare wood and begin anew. I re-stained the slab with a water based stain, switched to a new, table top epoxy, and the results were incredible. Here's a video of the finished project, minus the legs which are due to arrive in about a week from New South Wales.



I just started the guitar project, using a small slab of mappa burl, which is an incredibly expensive wood from a poplar tree found in western Europe. I sanded it down to 5,000 grit, rounded the edges a bit, then wiped the slab with a tack cloth, which removes the tiniest particle of dust or debris. I then applied a coat of water based, black dye with a sponge brush to the top side of the guitar body, which I must allow a few hours of drying time before applying the same stain to the back of the slab. Then it's a 2 day wait until everything is completely dry before applying the epoxy finish. After the epoxy finish dries, it will be a three week wait until the neck arrives from China, at which time I will rout out the neck attachment area, then begin working on inserting the two pickups and basic electronic controls. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one. I hope to give the guitar to my son for a birthday present.



I'll update this link in the next few days, when I apply the epoxy finish. I think this will be a very unique and beautiful, electric guitar.

Gary :Cool:

I just applied the first coat of epoxy to the guitar body, and despite the fact that I cleaned it with a tack cloth, there were still some spots/dust bubbles that appeared. I'll sand it again down to 5,000 grit, clean it with alcohol and a tack cloth and apply a second coat, which should solve the tiny bubble problem.



Gary

Quite a project, Gary, but not totally non music related :-) had you been my neighbor, I'd be bugging you all the time... well, now I see why you chose a house with no neighbors :-)

I have neighbors, but the nearest neighbor is more than 300 feet away. They stop by once in a while, and one of them hunts deer and wild turkey on the wooded area of my land. The projects are coming along and today, I will be working on the back side of the guitar body. The real challenge will be placement of the neck, which is a Gibson stratosphere copy that bolts in place. Keeping my fingers crossed.

All the best, my Russian friend,

Gary