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Nov. 19th 2008 Volume 1.2

Ben Myre writes:

Yes, I did walk to the Capital.  It was 4 miles, and it
took an hour.  I was really light headed and couldn't
really work by the time I got there...good thing it was
Saturday.  I just wanted to see how long it WOULD
take, and found out how I really wasn't as motivated
as I thought to walk to and fro.  Anyway, gas is down
to 1.69, so it ain't a problem.

Well, back to the Capital.  Today I was making
friends with the Speaker of the House, Melvin, as I
showed him how we fixed the old drawers and asked
him if he liked the new antique-sunflower-door-
knobs.  He did.  He can't wait to use them.

It's almost time to peel back the protective paper and
see the Rostrum in all it's new found glory.  The
anticipation is killing me.  We've being knocking out
the "punch list" and want to make sure the paper is no
longer necessary before we rid of it.

After we locked in the darker color on our beauty, we
brushed 3 coats of 2# Blonde dewaxed shellac and let
dry a few days.  Then we sanded with a felt block,
600 grit wet/dry, and naphtha the places that needed
it, to minimize brush strokes etc, which were hardly
there anyway (with the "padding with a brush"
method).

The final treatment was padding with Mohawk's
Lacover #30 and trace cloth (some people use linen,
but we didn't this time because we used so much of it,
I had to change pads frequently).  I padded in such a
manner that I acheived a nice semi-gloss sheen.  I
don't know how, so hesitate to ask.  Usually with wil-
pro a guy can get it shining pretty good.  The padding
treatment really takes the rough edge off of the project
and gives it a finished look.

Let me tell you troops, you have to see it in person to
really appreciate it.  We've been working on it for 3
months, and I will miss it, the people, and the coffee
when I'm done.  I'll write one more Field Notes on the
Rostrum and send more pictures.

BenM





















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