Swift Update
I took advantage of another beautiful day to (almost?) finish the swift. Part of it had to be done indoors, like the part requiring the use of the drill press, but I was able to do all the messy sanding outdoors — thank heavens! It was particularly messy because the wood I was using for the rotating arms was pretty rough and not all that good a fit where I had to laminate it to hide the staple holes, but about an hour with an orbital sander and 60-grit sandpaper eventually got it smooth enough that I could get it into shape for any finishing I decided to do.
And that’s where the "almost?" comes in. I decided to stain it (Golden Oak, if you’re curious), and since Mr. Empire had some 3/8" doweling he wasn’t using, I’m still at the "It didn’t cost me a cent out of pocket" stage, and looks pretty nice, if I do say so myself.
It doesn’t really need anything else, but I’m so used to using satin polyurethane on any of my woodworking projects from bookcases down to the simplest spindles, that at the moment I’m feeling conflicted. There’s none on hand, so I’d have to go buy it, which would ruin my boast … but there’s this feeling that it’s not really finished unless I give it some other treatment.
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
