Any woodworkers?

Yes but plastic?

Edit thanks I will search eBay when I get on my pc

 

Find a snow globe of the appropriate size and repurpose it.

 

I found a 3” cloche at Hobby lobby

Good news it was $1.99 clearance, bad news no 4” sizes

 

Start experimenting with 2-part clear epoxies. Make a mold of the shape and "paint" layers down letting it set each thin layer. Or make a mold that is 2 parts ... one slightly larger than the other to form the shell. At least it is a reason (flimsy excuse?) for your wife to explain why you are departing from just wood and why the work-area is sometimes coated with the failures.

That is about as acceptable as many reasons I have read in here for the experiments.

 

Nice!

 

Hows the Ortofon red compared to the Audio Technica?

 

It is better. Not that the AT is bad.

Orto really brings out the highs in a good way if everything else is correct. Bass end ok.

AT is just a well rounded OEM cartridge with good bass.

Right now I have a Goldring E4 Flagship. An absolute gem of a cartridge. Closest to live I’ve owned frankly

 

Finished with Minwax special walnut stain and Gilbey's Hard Wax Oil

 

Today’s progress report.

Shelf pin holes have been drilled, cabinet is currently dry fit, shelves are done, doors are roughed out. Not sure exactly how the doors are going to look. Trying to decide if they will get a cloud lift detail or not, then 1 3/8 plug or two smaller plugs in each corner.

Waiting until tomorrow to glue it up when my wife can give me a hand.

 

Do not be such a square, dude!

 

If you don’t want to be threatened with divorce, never ask your wife to help you back up a trailer or lend a hand with a complicated glue-up. Things did not cooperate, I lost my temper, but it is dry and stands by itself now. She closed the garage door so that the neighborhood would not hear my displeasure as clearly.

Doors are just balanced in place in the pics and are waiting for the hinges to be delivered, ebony plugs to be installed, pulls, and a final sanding. I decided not add a cloud lift to the doors due to their small overall size.

I am done for today and the finish line is in sight!

 

Oil stains for wood.

I've had decent luck with good old Minwax stain for years. Was in HD today. All they carry is Valspar stain. Never used it in all these years. How do the two compare? Not wanting to start a stain war, OK to suggest others.

 

I have used a few different stains over the years. Honestly, I have never been happy with any of it, even when using a pre-stain conditioner.

 

I didnt care for the prestain conditioner

 

I used a water based stain once, came out nice but needs multiple seal coats

The only rule laid down by the boss are no yellow or orange tones. Rules out anything with golden or honey in the description

I used Special Walnut the last three projects and it looks decent but can be blotchy even on hardwoods if allowed to soak unevenly

 

I rebuilt a maple desk I first made 30 years ago ... I was damned lucky it has held together through so many moves! But also the polyurethane has turned the ugliest shade of orange I have encountered.

I fully disassembled all parts and tried to sand/remove all of the old poly ... was mostly successful. Then I tried a couple of stains on the maple, including on a couple of new pieces that were engineered to make it more robust. But the stain was deeply inconsistent even on the new maple pieces.

I ended up with Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal to protect and gave up all of the "stain" experiments.

But sometimes I put the jelly on the outside of a PB&J sandwich, so ...

 

I've used Varathane for many years, and had good luck with it.

Varathane is now owned by Rustoleum, and I haven't bought stain in a while. Hopefully, they did not change the recipe.

Buy some small cans of stain, and try various brands on scrap wood. See what is easy to work, and gives you a nice finish.

 

I've used some of the Varathane by Rustoleum and I had no issues with it. Felt just like Minwax to me

Never used it before the buyout, so I can't really compare.