No one burned down your she-shed, Shannon.

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
i do need advice. the few things I have done before I had 'dipped'--someone else took the paint off and then re-glued the piece. they were an old tea table and a mission rocker that belonged to my grandfather. having one piece dipped was expensive 30 years ago. 4 chairs will be even more expensive today, if I can find anyone to do it at all. I think there are better stripping products on the market. recommendations ?
 
Last edited:

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,442
Reaction score
25,462
Location
Snow Cave
The only time we removed the old paint, it was five or six colors deep, at least twice that many layers, and we feared that the drawers and doors wouldn't close with another two. We used house-brand paint remover from Home Depot and neoprene gloves, and learned later from my husband's oncologist that paint removers' principle ingredient is linked to the kind of leukemia he had. (He was in the lucky 5% who recover.)

Ever since, I don't strip before painting. (Wouldn't that get paint all over my skin?) If I were going to stain a piece, yes, dip or strip, but fresh paint doesn't really require complete removal of existing finish as part of preparation.

If it needs to be reglued or repaired, I do that first.

Then I use a fine-grit sandpaper to smooth whatever finish is on there (paint, lacquer, polyurethane, it doesn't matter what), plus any dent, nicks, or rough spots. I make sure any paint that's crackled or alligatored is fully smoothed if not sanded completely off. If there are deep nicks or cracks that won't impact function, I fill them with wood putty and sand it smooth once it dries. I use a wet rag, rinsed often, to remove the paint dust from sanding and let the piece fully air-dry.

I put the piece on scrap wood or bricks to lift it off the floor or ground, so I can paint right to the bottom, and I do two coats at least 24 hours apart. Before I start the second coat I inspect for any drips I didn't see, or bugs that got trapped in the paint when it was wet, and sand as needed.

I do the second coat with care, watching brush strokes. And--this is huge--I let the piece cure for a minimum of seven full days, better ten, before I use it. Paint that's fully dry isn't fully hardened, and more than once I've set a candle or a lamp on a finished piece only to have it leave a mark that's there until I paint it again.

Easy-peasy. I wish I could come and help. It's fun.

Maryn, who gave away the curb-find chairs she was going to paint when she got around to it
 

GailD

Still chasing plot bunnies.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 25, 2011
Messages
12,128
Reaction score
4,691
Location
Somerset East, South Africa
Maryn, you are so right! It's huge fun. And I think restoring and refurbishing old furniture is not just a craft, it's an artistic thing, too. I will post some pics of the 'before and after' of the chairs. I'm going to give them a light sanding today and then the final coat of varnish to the wood. I hope to start reupholstering the backs tomorrow.

A question: What is 'dipping'? I imagined a big vat of paint-stripper and 'dipping' the piece of furniture in it. Is that right?
 

Friendly Frog

Snarkenfaugister
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 23, 2011
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
4,942
Location
Belgium
Wanting to do a project and not having the tools or requirements can be so frustrating! That's the worst part of the lockdown - not being able to get stuff. (I haven't mastered this online shopping thing yet.) But I've made a note of that show - The Repair Shop - and I'm going to see if I can find it on the BBC channels that we can get here. Love those types of shows!! Thanks for mentioning it. :)
The online shopping here is still, it seems, a little behind the rest of the world. The few things I have thought about ordering are nowhere available unless I get them far overseas. For some things that's just too much bother.

The thing is, if I can take the time to think it through, there are several projects I could be doing and for which I pretty much have all the materials but my brain insists on focussing on the projects I couldn't do for lack of material. My family are not hoarders, but nothing that is remotely useful gets thrown away. Drives me spare when I'm on a cleaning-and-order-spree but for projects during lockdown, it's pretty damn handy. If I can think of them. :rolleyes: I suppose it was the influence of the lock-down, the moment one is not supposed to get out, one thinks suddenly of so many reasons to go out, even if in other, normal circumstances, you're practically a hermit.

I do heartily recommend watching The Repair Shop if possible! It's a comfort watching for me. :) Those people have so much skill and ingenuity... It has inspired me to attempt at least two repairprojects, which I simply wouldn't have dared to do without watching them tackle similar projects. Upholstery is for the moment still out of my league, but I love hearing about it. And there are like three seasons already. So much to enjoy.

[...]I make sure any paint that's crackled or alligatored is fully smoothed if not sanded completely off. [...]
I don't know what alligatored means but it evokes interesting images combined with chairs!

Maryn, you are so right! It's huge fun. And I think restoring and refurbishing old furniture is not just a craft, it's an artistic thing, too. I will post some pics of the 'before and after' of the chairs. I'm going to give them a light sanding today and then the final coat of varnish to the wood. I hope to start reupholstering the backs tomorrow.
Oh I would love to see them too! Good luck!
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,442
Reaction score
25,462
Location
Snow Cave
That's exactly what dipping is, dunking an entire piece of wood or metal furniture in a vat of chemicals. I understand they can use that vat of paint remover for ages; all the solids in the paint and other finishes eventually sink to the bottom and they do no harm before they settle. In fact, I remember when we did the stripping that we reused remover that was gunked up with paint, reapplying it around the joints and other places that needed a second helping.

Alligatoring in paint is when it cracks in two direction, making it resemble alligator leather (or maybe a living alligator?), like this: https://images.app.goo.gl/kSrMtwBb9Sn7opum8 Usually when paint has alligatored, it's been unable to bond to whatever is underneath it, often because the surface is dirty, oily, or glossy.

Maryn, realizing she knows a thing or two, woo-hoo!
 

GailD

Still chasing plot bunnies.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 25, 2011
Messages
12,128
Reaction score
4,691
Location
Somerset East, South Africa
I think Maryn knows more than just a thing or three! :D


Of course, down here, alligatoring would have to be called crocodileling. Or if I'm doing it... crock-o-dialing. :roll:

I think the fumes might be getting to me.

:roll:
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,442
Reaction score
25,462
Location
Snow Cave
To my great pleasure, when I was looking for an image of alligatored paint, I did see crocodiled paint images. Do you love it?

This makes me wonder what other common terms have equivalents using local flora and fauna.

Maryn, who likes words
 

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
Okay. So this thread is about projects and I am now on the 4-chair project instead of the She Shed for now. I was depressed about the money situation and not being able to put on a new roof and doors BUT I do have a place to refinish chairs. This needs to be done before it gets too hot. Let me warn you all, I am not a fan of refinishing, painting or anything that takes focus and fine detail. Jigsaw puzzles, model cars, baking, --all things that are hair pulling tedious frustration for me. My birthday is June 6 and I am the perfect Gemini--flitting from one project to the next. On the other hand, the idea of finally doing something that I can afford and have the time to accomplish is my choice for now.

As for the She Shed-- the water situation is still in the air. The plumbing company still has to get back with me about the hydrant. The piss elms have not been cut down. The old roses are budded out and the choked up iris are trying to bloom. They are tall and of a very pretty soft yellow with a purpley-brown freckling. They smell great. Midsummer I will divide them and replant them in the fall.
 

Friendly Frog

Snarkenfaugister
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 23, 2011
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
4,942
Location
Belgium
Sounds like very pretty irisses! Are they natives or cultivars?

It's a shame about the roof, but getting to use the shed for your chair project may soften the blow in the mean time. Keep us posted of your progress!

*fellow Gemini elbow-bump* My birthday is just one week earlier. :)
 

GailD

Still chasing plot bunnies.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 25, 2011
Messages
12,128
Reaction score
4,691
Location
Somerset East, South Africa
Sorry to hear that the shed project is temporarily on hold. :Hug2: I'm sure it will come right soon. The 4 chair project sounds interesting. What are you doing with them?

Oh, and love the description of those irises. :)
 

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
I have been reluctant to post about my shed when the whole country seems to be going down the tubes. NO, I am not doing another Trumprant. It is just that tomorrow will be my 70th birthday and I am slowing up-- vertigo and a bad shoulder. I always thought that I would leave the world a better place. Not so sure now.

The Arbery murder has seriously shaken me. Mainly because of the prolonged cover-up. Ahmaud was about the age of my last batch of students and I wanted the world to be a better place for them. Travis McMichael is about the age of my first batch of seniors--I thought I had pounded some sense of justice into their pointy little skulls. Right now all evidence seems to point to the contrary.

I am hanging onto this quotation that saw on a museum wall in Puebla, Mexico. It was in Nahuatl translated to Spanish so I can't begin to remember the exact words but the gist was that the meaning of life is found in flowers, music and friends. I was startled to think of those bloodthirsty, heart ripping warriors cherishing flowers and music but then I thought of the beautiful Japanese garden prints and the fact that when I as teaching English to adult Vietnamese refugees in the 90s, several of my students--ex prisoners of the North Vietnamese--told me of the day Elvis Presley died. They said that the guards and the prisoners played Elvis music all day, they all shared the his memory, guards and prisoners, because he had been a big part of everyone's youth. We also, as an ESL class, did a garden project to bring Mexicans and Asian immigrants together. There was a lot of tension in Dodge City in those days but we all laughed when we realized that cosmos had the same name in all 3 languages.

Anyway, I cannot sing or play a musical instrument. I am not an Elvis fan. I am shy and kind of introverted so I have only a handful of friends but I can grow flowers . My avatar is the old roses around my shed. The neglected bushes are in glory now. They are perfuming this whole block--no mean feat as there is a horse corral just down the street. I might be slowing down but I am not quitting.
 
Last edited:

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,883
Reaction score
7,171
Location
Virginia
Happy early birthday, shakeysix. You're an inspiration. :Hug2:
 

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
16,768
Reaction score
4,663
Location
Scotland
Sending you kindest wishes for tomorrow, Shakeysix. :Hug2: An internet friend from far away.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,442
Reaction score
25,462
Location
Snow Cave
How can I possibly give you the big hug you deserve, Shakey?

Flowers make the world a better place. You make me want to go ring the doorbell of That House with the Yard--the whole front is flowers, no lawn, and every time I pass it, my heart gladdens. Maybe I'll send them a card; I'm an introvert, too. (So many writers are, don't you think?)

I hope your special day includes something as lovely as flowers and our best wishes, I really do.

Maryn, terribly fond of you
 

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
Hugs make me uncomfortable, Maryn. But I do love the fiddleheads in your avatar. They inspired me to try ferns again. All three still hanging on. As for the chairs, I talked with a local business lady about her sanding and painting them.

Mrs. M-- Matt's wildcherry did not make it--at least the 6 I started never came up. As for Old Stumpy-- one of the six I started is prospering
. He had to weather a series of early May frosts and a surprise bath in soapy dish water. German Q, started on my sisters porch, is standing strong.

And Bufty, those were perennial sweet peas in my mail box garden. No scent but they survive drought, heat and horse chewing better than the annuals. Wish I could grow the annual sweet peas but they just don't last here. I am a freak on English gardens. Do you have one?
 

GailD

Still chasing plot bunnies.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 25, 2011
Messages
12,128
Reaction score
4,691
Location
Somerset East, South Africa
Hope you had a great birthday, Shakey. And those roses around the shed look beautiful. I agree with you about flowers. I think they are food for the soul. While I do miss the big garden I had in Johannesburg, the teeny-tiny little garden in my backyard (pics on my blog) gives me so much pleasure - and tomatoes, rosemary, chives, parsley and mint. The cucumber didn't make it and the sweet peppers are hanging in there but not doing much. Still, life without a garden is unthinkable.

Oh, and I finished the chair project. :)
 

Friendly Frog

Snarkenfaugister
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 23, 2011
Messages
4,098
Reaction score
4,942
Location
Belgium
I hope you had a lovely birthday, Shakey. :) And may the roses continue to give you much joy. I agree with Gail, flowers soothe the soul.

I have been reluctant to post about my shed when the whole country seems to be going down the tubes.
Please don't feel the need to hold back. Things that are creative and constructive are needed all the more to shed a little light in all the darkness.


As for my own projects, some garden work in the front garden has kind of gotten away from me and became a full blown renovation project of the front garden and the front entrance during the lock-down (which my mother remarked was excellent timing considering we weren't allowed to have any visitors to appreciate it :ROFL: but she's not complaining too loudly because the sorry look from the entrance has been a sour spot for her for years.)

It wasn't exactly planned but from one thing came another. A project that wasn't one but actually totally is now and one that progressed too far to stop now. It started as just attempting to seed a flower meadow on the dead front lawn. (Which, pretty much failed so far, as only one plant species came through and I don't know whether it'll have a single flower by summer. Moving on.)

Please tell me know you guys now how it is: one moment you're pulling weeds and then one with a long root-system upsets one of the stones at the edge of the flower bed, and the next moment you're digging up all the sunken stones out because if you reset one, the others look wonky and then you decide you didn'tlike the original lay-out so you totally rebuild and expand it and then it just won't look good unless you top up the old raised bed with three wheelbarrows of compost and then ooh look more plant space and then... Etc...

Or is it just me? :rolleyes

In any case, after the tilling, the seeding, the weeding, the pruning, the digging, the rebuilding, the dragging in of compost, the planting, the cleaning, the stacking of a wood-pile for bugs, the sweeping, the sanding and painting of bars and the cementing of loose bits of stone, we arrived finally at what I hope is the final stage (yes, really): the filling up of cracks in the repaired slabs of hardstone that make up the steps of the front entrance. But then came the rains so it's all wrapped in plastic while I wait for dry weather. I haven't done much stone work yet, so it'll be an experiment. But after that I'l calling this project done!
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,442
Reaction score
25,462
Location
Snow Cave
Hugs make me uncomfortable, Maryn.
In that case, I'd recite a poem from memory, to show you students who don't care for poetry, or don't seem to, remain moved by the power of well-chosen words. Their teachers may never know of it, but it still happens.

Of course the stuff I memorized in high school is rather melodramatic compared to what I like now, but still--Maryn knows a few poems?!

Maryn, knowing you'd never have guessed
 

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,883
Reaction score
7,171
Location
Virginia
Please tell me know you guys now how it is: one moment you're pulling weeds and then one with a long root-system upsets one of the stones at the edge of the flower bed, and the next moment you're digging up all the sunken stones out because if you reset one, the others look wonky and then you decide you didn'tlike the original lay-out so you totally rebuild and expand it and then it just won't look good unless you top up the old raised bed with three wheelbarrows of compost and then ooh look more plant space and then... Etc...

Or is it just me? :rolleyes

It's not just you. I went through all that when I was expanding my perennial bed early this spring (one of my coreopsis is still unhappy with me for transplanting it, and I still find myself moving rocks around). I finally settled into a schedule of of just doing maintenance weeding - soooo many maple seedlings - but last week I discovered (after pulling it up) a little poison ivy shoot tucked beneath the canopy of my weeping cherry tree. I scrubbed up right after and suffered no ill effects, thankfully, but today I discovered that it's grown back. I've never had poison ivy anywhere in my yard and am wondering if this one was transported in via the fresh pine bark mulch. Later today I'll get suitably togged out and dig it up with my new hori hori knife. Maybe I'll get the whole thing this time.

In that case, I'd recite a poem from memory, to show you students who don't care for poetry, or don't seem to, remain moved by the power of well-chosen words. Their teachers may never know of it, but it still happens.

Which reminds me of William Finn's song Only One, sung by an English teacher near the end of her career:

If just one student learns the beauty of aesthetics
Then that's fine
I need only one.
Or if one student learns the wonders of poetics
Then he's mine
And my work here will be done
And if one student values structure
Learns that words can be valuable and fun
Give me twenty students who despise
The poems they have to memorize
All right
I need only one.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,442
Reaction score
25,462
Location
Snow Cave
Look at us, talking poetry in the shed! I like that one.

Every time I see a why-didn't-I-think-of-that shed tip on Pinterest, I think of your shed. Last night it was a series of circular holes in a tin roof, sized to allow water bottles to fit the holes exactly. You put water in the bottles, and in daytime, it lights the inside pretty well, the water refracting the light, if that's the right term.

Other pins show water bottles inside, with light sticks in them, diffusing light at night.

I don't actually want a shed, but I kind of do, for the fun of trying all this stuff, you know?
 

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,883
Reaction score
7,171
Location
Virginia
My sister in New Hampshire is having a garden cottage built (she refuses to call it a she-shed). She's posted photos of two stained-glass windows from an old church - now demolished - that she's had installed in one wall of the cottage. The church was founded by her husband's great-great uncle, and the windows feature his name. They're simple and elegant and historic and make me want to die of jealousy.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,442
Reaction score
25,462
Location
Snow Cave
Oh, that sounds amazing. If you need a break from your death-level jealousy, I can spell you.

I follow two Twitter accounts that photograph abandoned places, often haunting and eerie. (And a lovely break from sociopolitical outrage tweets.) It's shocking to me how many churches made no attempt to save their stained glass, pews, or carved woodwork, all kinds of gorgeous things that could have been repurposed. I suppose the removal costs money, but man... And don't start me on what those abandoned spaces could have done for the poor and homeless.

Meanwhile, we've got shacks to discuss. Now I can't remember, Shakey. Will or does it have electricity?

Maryn, who does
 

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
It is wired for electricity but does not have it at present. Water is the main thing right now. I am dragging around a 150 ft. hose with my bad shoulder. There is a hydrant on the lot with the shed but it is not hooked up. And I have checked w/my plumber twice about an estimate for the hook up but still no answer.

The good news is that Beto showed up on my birthday--and I did trade a birthday hug with him. Sorry Maryn. It was awkward but I bore it. He will cut down the piss elms so I can plant the sunflower forest--which in Spanish is Bosque del Girasol-- isn't that pretty? He was here this morning to make a bed for my corn behind the shed. Not sweet corn but popcorn. My grandkids crave the stuff. This is strawberry --a reddish pink cob variety that will look great in wreaths if it doesn't pop well.

Funny thing--the Spanish word for popcorn is close to the word for doves. I get words mixed up sometimes. So when I told Beto that I wanted to plant doves behind the shed, he stared at me for a long time before he said "Palomitas, no palomas maestra!" Maestra means teacher, which he likes to call me when I screw up Spanish.

"Flower in the crannied wall
I pluck you from the cranny
root and all..." Tennyson

One of the poems we had to learn in Jr. High. As I remember we came up with all kinds of imaginative verses on that one.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,442
Reaction score
25,462
Location
Snow Cave
I'm not even jealous that you allowed someone else to hug you, but not me. (Brave sniff!) I'm eager for you to have a forest of sunflowers.

My limited experience suggests critters are highly skilled at eating them before they can germinate. When our kids were small, I attempted to make a sunflower maze in the yard, but I think we ended up with six or eight stalks out of hundreds of seeds planted.

But today I met a very nice turtle with a shell about eight inches long, so I still like outside.

Maryn, who hasn't looked up what kind of turtle yet
 

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
10,839
Reaction score
2,426
Location
St. John, Kansas
Website
shakey6wordsmith.webs.com
When Beto cleared the spot for the popcorn, he unearthed an old, rusty, buzz saw blade. It is circular, about the size of a pie pan in circumference. I immediately fell in love with it. My Florida kid is going to paint it when she gets here next month. She is painting a watercolor for me now--it is an Octopus Garden (Love that song!) with family members as fish and crustaceans. She says she has to see the saw blade and handle it before she is inspired. A bottle of white wine might also help.