Morning Update 8/30

Custom sticks near completion.

Sometimes farting around the shop, tinkering, experimenting, I’ll do something the wrong way just to see what happens. Sometime if I get the time I’ll tell you about how epoxy stays wet underneath while curing, even when the outside is hard. Fast forward to…

That’s why the finishing process takes a long time — a week or so — for everything to work perfectly. Purple Object Ball Eater and Caribbean Stick started the process about a week ago, and I redid portions of the base coats of finish on each stick a couple days back. We’re to the place now that I can sand the sticks even, build the final coats of CA glue and polish the sticks out to look like glass.

Dennis W’s stick happens to be a step ahead, due to his being the first to benefit from a refinement in my process. Here’s another place where, if I had time, I could create a funny video of myself going through the squirmy frustration of learning, if I had the time and humility. Long story short, the goal of the base is not to be thick, but to be even. The goal of the outside layer of the finish is not to be even, but to be thick. (When applied.) Get them reversed and you frustrate yourself.

I’m eager to see this stick gleam. By the end of the day, it ought to be in final condition. Then Purple Object Ball Eater and Caribbean Stick, rapidly after, next couple three days, Lord willing, creek don’t rise, etc.

Here’s the stick after adding 5 more coats of CA glue and then buffing back to flat. This is the moment when I know the stick is ready to move to the last steps.

Purple Object Ball Eater ready to sand smooth, add CA glue and polish.