the doors
episode vi: The End.
With just less than a week until Ramadan, Allah enabled me to finish with the doors.
As in episode v, I started by lightly sanding, then wiping down the doors, before adding a third and final coat of varnish.
From a distance, they look good. Alhamdulillah.
But don’t look too close… I left some drips in there in a few spots…
And let’s wrap this up with a mention of a few of things I used: Spar Urethane (and enough leftover to varnish the doors once a year for 8-10 years…); a nice dark stain; some natural mineral spirits; a handy-dandy step ladder; some shop towels; a couple of high quality brushes; some empty paint cans (one for stripper, pictured in an earlier episode; another for mineral spirits/cleaning brushes); sandpaper (in 60, 80, 120, 180, and 220 grit—suck it up and use actual paper and sweat… the sandpaper sponge things look like they’d work ok, but in practice they’re not great, and for a door like this, a mechanical sander is not really practical); and everybody’s favorite blue painter’s tape.
And one more thing: clean your brushes. Tap out as much mineral spirits as possible, then wring into a towel you don’t care much about. Then coat with dishwashing soap and massage under hot water. Wring into a clean towel and hang to try.
Warning(s): stripper, mineral spirits, stain, and urethane varnish are volatile and not good to breath in. Use with proper ventilation and keep children away as much as possible. Also, with your oil-soaked rags: hang them to dry thoroughly, don’t leave them in a pile in the corner, or all folded up somewhere—they can purportedly combust spontaneously.
Thanks for tuning in!
And last, but not least, a couple of comments on the Foxy/Robusta combo I used throughout this project.
It’s one of my favorites: pleasant border, interesting tones, good color. But I just noticed something: there are hairs, or threads or something in the lens or film filter… you can see them clearly in many of the door shots. I noticed them when preparing these posts, and thought there was something in the iPhone lens for a bit. So watch out for these, should you use this combo.
iPhone 5. Hipstamatic. Foxy lens, Robusta film.
