I changed things up a bit today. With the ongoing-ness of TMBWitW, and a hope chest that really needed to get started on (I’m refinishing a thirty-plus year old Lane Furniture “solid” cedar chest – ‘nother story, ‘nother time), I stayed at home today. I was working in my shop (my wife insists on parking her car in the middle of it, and calls it the “garage”) and sanding away on the old, dark, contemporary finish of the chest and the numerous deep scratches that come with age, and naturally my mind started wandering and making a connection between what I was doing and what God does.

First, though – the surgery has been scheduled, for the 18th – the latest possible date for the surgery, according to the doctor, and well after month end stresses. Also after the church retreat on the 11th through the 13th, so the pastor’s wife is happy about that. Thank you to all who have expressed concerns and prayers.

Back to the hope chest. I kept thinking about how much work it was to sand off the old finish (the outside of the chest is veneered with walnut), and at the same time I was trying to avoid digging too much wood off the veneer, I was trying to remove some pretty deep scratches from the lid. I kept thinking how much this action compared to what God is trying to do in each person’s life – removing the marks of hard hits, bad positions, a history of unhappy encounters; while stripping off the facade of the life we placed upon ourselves and at the same time preserving the foundation that He had laid in our life to begin with. I finished working on the lid – that is, the sanding part – and I had to leave one particularly nasty and deep scar on the surface. I had taken off a lot of material around it – in fact, I am afraid to work on that section any more for fear of revealing the substrate beneath the veneer – but unless you know where to look for it you can’t see it right now in the sanded version. I am pretty sure that once I put a finish back on this piece, the scar will jump back into prominence. This is where the analogy really starts to come together – you see, I am going to use some of “God’s Grace” (wood putty) to fill in the last part of this deepest scar, and to cover the result of a long and hard life so that only the beauty of the walnut shines through, much like God’s Grace in our lives covers our old sins and falls and bumps and bruises of life to where only the beauty of God shines though us.

I know that not all of the people who happen to stumble across this little corner of the internet will know what I am talking about – but the ones that understand what I am saying will see what I mean.

Yes, I will post pictures of the finished product. I didn’t take a “before” shot of the lid, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it. Here are some shots of the body, with a sanded picture of the lid:

You can see where I’ve started the detail sanding on the front left “waffle weave” – a feature that really dates the piece. This is going to take some serious time; I told the customer the charge would be for my labor more than anything else. I will also be building a drawer to replace the missing one. The toughest part of the build will be to match the drawer front with the rest of the chest. I’ve been researching and tracking down a supply of walnut veneer – pricey stuff, that.

UPDATE 8/31/09:

A 4×8 sheet of walnut veneer lists at about $240. At the same outlet (Woodworker’s Source) I found they also offer “hobby packs” of veneer – about seven square feet of veneer, for about $14. Perfect! that will take care of the needs for this project, and even leave a little bit left over.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – you’re probably wondering where I disappeared to. And, since I do feel I owe an explanation to all two of my readers, here it is: Remember last week when I mentioned I was working on a shade modification for the game room/former horse barn? Take a gander:

Last Friday, TMBWitW got news about the results of her exam (sorry, didn’t tell you about that) and she has a polyp that needs to be removed. Like, in the next week or so. We have been scrambling getting surgery information and scheduling various items (who’s gonna watch MEG? when can we get this done? it is only done on Thursdays, should it be the Thursday of close week, or the Thursday before the church retreat? impact work, or impact church? how are we going to pay for this?) and TMBWitW has been trying to find as much info as possible on the ‘net. She gets squeamish at the sight of blood. Most of the information has been graphic illustrations of the procedure. That’s not working real well.

So – between that, the eBay thing, driving cab, and raising a two and a half year old, the blog is last on the list of priorities.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Official Democratic Party Health Care Campaign Car – designed exactly the way Obama laid out his message:

You figure it out. I have a headache.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Sorry I haven’t been posting as regularly as I used to. For some reason, I’ve been extremely tired most of the time, and I think it has to do with trying to keep up with a ball of energy known as MEG. She is so over taking naps in the afternoon, and is now sleeping only eight or nine hours per night. Doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for me to surf or catch up on blogs. Do me a favor, though – be sure you visit all the fine folk over in the sidebar – each and every one of them is truly worth reading.

Last night we had a great session of praise and worship, with live music. We have a third guy joining us on guitar, and Pastor is still playing guitar, so we have two guitars and my bass. The sound is coming together. The new guy, Jay, is really good on the guitar, and he is slowly learning the ropes for becoming a worship leader. Afterwards, the message was on John 12:20-36.

Started a small project at the church yesterday – covering a shade awning (kind of a tent frame) with aluminum channel that used to be the porch covering for the old horse barn. The porch covering had to come down, because the previous property owner had never gotten a permit for the awning – or the barn itself, but that’s another story – and the city has been oh-so-helpful in allowing the church to get permits for improvements on the property, but temporary structures don’t need permits, so – re-purposing the awning material to cover the tent frame. They need to be cut to length, notched in the middle to go over the center frame, and then I am pop-riveting the ends to the frame work to secure them. I’ll have pictures later.

I’ve been working on an extended eBay auction for my friend Harold. He is slowly divesting himself of fifty years worth of kits, models, and model railroad stock. One of the items that he was going to put up this next week is a beautifully detailed 2-8-0 locomotive that had been painted in Black Canyon livery. Several years ago (in the mid-nineties, if memory serves) I bought a locomotive that had been hand-built from the builder’s widow – the sale was handled by Harold for Mike’s estate at the time. The builder, Mike Granville, was a master machinist and had built a 2-8-2 from scratch. I was not running the 2-8-2, because for some reason the front pilot was not tracking correctly through turnouts. When I mentioned that I hated to see the 2-8-0 go on the block, Harold suggested a trade, for the Granville loco. I accepted – because I could run the 2-8-0 on the layout, and Harold wanted to have a piece of Mike’s handiwork as a memento. It’s going to live out the rest of it’s days on a shelf, but it will be loved and appreciated for the piece of fine artwork and craftsmanship that it is.

Just thought you’d like to know what I was up to.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

That’s right – you can quit Flagging Yourself since the White House has disabled the flag@whitehouse.gov address.

Darn. I was just fixing to flood them with some more “fishy” information.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!