Wednesday had me in Spooner for a meeting so I took my two jigsaws (Eugene had one here + mine) into Ace Hardware, where my favorite Hardware Guy – Al – helped me pick out a couple of new jigsaw blades. Al has probably retired from something very useful which makes him even more useful as a Hardware Guy. Last summer he helped me plumb my shower. As a matter of fact, he saved me from buying 10 feet (yes, feet) of 1/2-inch pvc to completely replace every stick of plumbing in that bathroom. He showed me this little pvc connector that allowed me to do the job with around 10 INCHES of pipe. It’s been True Love ever since.
So, Al said the blades I already had in the jigsaws were plenty sharp, but I think the trick was using a reverse cut blade. I have no idea why. Physics isn’t my strong suit. It also helped that I planted my hand on top of the saw to keep it from rattling my brains out. It cut pretty well after I eliminated that bouncing.
Although cutting that top was one of the most difficult tasks I’ve done, apparently I didn’t take any pictures of my foibles. Good thing there’s a large lip around the sink to cover up the crooked cutting. I did a lot of measuring and thinking because I was afraid the sink would be too deep from front to back, but it fits perfectly.
A zillion cuts later, it finally fits. I trimmed off slivers of maple until the saw went on strike.
And now for the booboo of the week. See that minute crack in the top on the other side of the sink? That minor split came completely apart just as I finished the cut. Waaahhh. Yes. Yes, I swore.
My version of fixing this mishap was to take a couple of pine 1×3’s and reinforce the top from the bottom. Does that make sense? Sure it does. Screw a couple of boards to the bottom spanning the crack and presto! your split will go away. Nope. That didn’t even THINK about working. I couldn’t hold the two top pieces together tightly enough to make the crack go away. If only I had four arms. (That has occurred to me many times recently.) I also spent a good deal of time looking for screws that would penetrate both pieces, but not go through. Difficult to wipe off a countertop with screws sticking out. So, I bought some long clamps and glued the thing together and left it overnight. Overnight is a good thing. Not only does glue dry in that time, but when you’re ready to toss the entire thing out the window — or better yet jump up and down on top of the project in question and yell (this leaves boot prints on the future kitchen counter, by the way) — overnight works miracles.
It worked. The piece stayed together and seems to be ok except for a notable dish in the middle. I think those old boards have wanted to warp for years, but were restrained by the toggles. We’ll see how that warp acts when I clamp down the sink.
So, today I painted the wall for the last time, painted the floor, painted the cat. Oh. No, I didn’t paint the cat. I painted the future shelves that will go on the wall.
And, I painted what will be the island.
And finally, I used a different color! I know. You’re sick of white, right? Well look at this!
And here we are at the weekend already!