I had planned to do a taste test between two brands of plastic wood filler. Yeah I know, taste test is probably the wrong term. You hope. I mean I remember kids in early school years who tasted paste, you know, because glue was too technical for our use in those days. Yeah paste! They ate it! Why?! I never could figure that out - I mean I can understand broken rulers, but eating paste? But what I really meant was a side by side comparison.
I've been pulling out of an Elmer's Wood Filler jar - and a small one at that - for maybe a couple of decades. Well, I haven't had TIME for woodworking. Someday I'm going to do some, by golly! But anyway, I finally ran out during this Lil' Queeny Project. That stuff was really good. If it dried out over time, adding in just a tid-bit of water and stirring it up smoothed the consistency and re-included all the dry molecules of "?" back into the paste it was meant to be. That's why it lasted so long.
But it didn't take a stain, even though it was advertised on the jar as "stainable". Yeah, I've ruined many projects over the years with that stuff before I finished it up here recently. And I was glad to see it go!
So I bought some new stuff at the home center awhile back, to use on Lil' Queeny. This time I chose the "already stained" stuff they had on the shelf - in "Golden Oak". Golden Oak is what we use on just about everything, as a final, or as a beginning, but golden oak nonetheless. (I might change that up here in the near future on something, but that's all the hint I'm giving about it right now).
And then, another day while we were at the OTHER home center, I remembered that I had run out of filler - finally - but I didn't remember I already bought some, so I bought some more; in the brand carried by that store.
So here I am at the "Galley Face Filling" event needing to fix some arrow holes and I go to the shelf and see both jars. Well I grabbed both and set them up - Dap on the left, Minwax on the right. Taste test time!
I opened the Dap (lift off lid) and set to work on the holes to the left. After maybe a third of the project, enough to get a feel for how I liked the application of the paste, I closed it up and cleaned up the tools.
Then I sat back down before my project and opened the jar on the right, the Minwax (screw on lid) to begin the same process on the right side holes. The paste was dry - almost solid. The lid had been tight! But I guess the seal was poor because it had that stick on foil stuff where part comes off and part stays on so you can't get a good seal? Manufactures love that stuff, long shelf life.
But once it's open - watch out! I could tell my paste was from about the time of the Egyptians, and even as I looked at it, there before my eyes it turned to dust and a light breeze came by and it blew away. The jar wasn't just empty, it was clean!
So I got the Dap and finished the piece.
The first thing I noticed was that it was a bit heavy, too dry, hard to spread. I might read the label and add a touch of water next time. In fact I fished the Minwax out of the garbage and might try the same with it. That'll set me up for the next 40 years! But for now I had the holes done and needed to let it dry and then sand it smooth.
The wood surface is veneer. Too much sanding will go through the veneer. I'm hand sanding, in part for effect, no sanding blocks, more reason for possible veneer penetration. The stuff dried hard. The stuff dried fast. Don't panic. What to do?
I did a no-no. I used water on wood. I've always heard that's bad. You know water raises the wood grain. You always must sand after any moisture due to raised wood grain. It depends on many factors, type of wood, and how much water. My use was "moist damp". Not "dripping", not "soggy", not "dry damp". I sanded those spots with a rag.
I've done a similar thing many times finishing drywall with a sponge instead of sanding. Using a sponge (or on this project using a moist damp rag) really shifts you into placing importance on the original coat of filler laid down. Keep it minimal. It goes on much easier than it comes off.
But it came off really well (still a LOT of elbow grease). I loved the result. I let it dry overnight, and I think 30 minutes would have sufficed, and then came back and did a 150 grit and a final 200 grit. Then I re-evaluated, did the side wall and a second coat as needed on the face. More damp rag, more sanding, really nice results. Let's see about getting some pictures in here, I've been talking all morning for crying out loud.
Note the under drawer wound from a previous picture. This is an example of where another fella might have done "veneer replacement". If that's a correct term. It's quite a skill, I hear. Not sure I have the tools or the patience for that sort of detail on this big of a project. Now if it was an end table, I might try it. I filled it. And note the rest of the arrow holes as you scroll through these.
Those were before the second coat.
In the meantime I flipped it and looked over the back side.
Here's a good example of why I don't like wavey fasteners. BTW, I got a nice reminder of their correct name, corrugated fasteners! Oh course they are! But these next photos show how handy they are, and how potentially damaging they can be.
In essence, the corner in the above photo is supported in whole by the paneling. Is it glued well? I could pocket screw these, but I don't want to remove ever more material. Cleats and thin gussets with glue are probably the best answer, like I did on the one corner for the fresh water cabinet, especially since the 1 1/2" sink drain will be coming through here. And we'll see the cleats come into play with the install on another day.
Another weak corner due to lazy saw techniques from the factory.
Factory needs to sharpen or replace the blade on their crosscut saw, but that sort of stuff is caught during the quality assurance check at the end of the current stage, so you can rest easy.
Not a bad corner.
The new door opening looks good from the back. I followed the line of the framing.
Breadboard slot. This will be getting some major modification and improvement. Not so we can cut bread, but so we can have extended usable counter space.
Here's the side of our range.
These tabs on either side of the stove/oven range are the widest points. Using these I determined a minimum width, not-too-tight rough opening for this range to be 20".
This next photo illustrates why I'm for "exact fitting", and not "close enough".
Of course if I expected that from the factory I'd be pricing myself out of an RV. We all do what we can.
Here's how the side wall is coming. Just the flag pole is getting the wood grain finish. The rest will be primer white or bronze paint.
This is a Wave 3 Heater. Can't figure out how to get heat out of it yet, but it's early on.
Okay, these are after the second filler coat and the final sanding. Incidentally, there will be another final sanding after final manipulation is completed. Manipulation includes: moving the piece in and out of the camper many times for custom sizing, assembly and installation.
