Refinishing An Old Banister

Soon I will be refinishing some steps in the rectory of a very old German parish. Refinishing the steps is just par for course in floor refinishing, but along with those steps I will be refinishing the banister/hand rail and the spindles.
I'm really looking forward to that part of the project. It will be a tedious job involving some power sanding, hand sanding and the use of chemical strippers to get the old finish out of the moldings, but I'm looking forward to accomplishing the end product.
I strongly suspect that there are various species of wood involved, so a gel stain will be required for uniformity in color.
In addition to that I may even apply a dye first to obtain a more uniform base too.
I'll have to see what's what before I make a final decision on that though.
I will post pictures of the project, so stay tuned!


wwww.dogwoodtales.com

Top Rack of Dishwasher Does Not Come Out Clean!

It's really annoying when the dishwasher does not clean properly. In my case the bottom rack of the dishwasher was cleaning well, but the top rack of the dishwasher was not coming out clean at all. In fact, the top rack was barely getting wet.

When this happens the wash water is not being cycled correctly or completely.
The possible causes are either there is a clog somewhere in the system, or there is a problem with the pump. Fortunately in my case the problem was a clog - easier and cheaper to correct.

The clog can be anywhere in the system path from the pump up to the sprayer at the top of the dishwasher. In my case the clog was at the food chopper down near the pump. It's relatively easy to get to, with a little patience:-) But it helps a lot to know what to expect.

This video features a Kitchen Aid dishwasher Model # KUDS03STWH3.
Even if you have a different model dishwasher this video should help give you an idea of what to expect and how to do things.




While you are going through this process it's a good time to give the dishwasher a good cleaning. A clean dishwasher produces cleaner dishes. Using vinegar in the dishwasher will help to clean out the systems in general, but vinegar alone will not give it the dishwasher the cleaning it may need from time to time. A dishwasher can accumulate a lot of build up grime and just plain gunk from food and hard water. The only way to really clean the dishwasher well is to give the dishwasher a good scrub down. This video shows you how to do that too.

Here is a picture of some of the crud I cleaned out of my dishwasher just today (March 16, 2014). Yes, that is a pick for things like nuts. The rest is pieces of broken plastic from the dishwasher silverware rack, pieces of wrapper, bone fragments from meals, a tooth pick and just junk. I have kids. Do I need to elaborate?

I hope that you find this video helpful.
Please let me know if helped you with your dishwasher.
Please subscribe! - There are many other helpful videos posted and yet to come.

This is what a good power assisted flush toilet can do for you - not to mention some good laxatives!

This is a funny video of a baby and what she does with her oatmeal.
I think I might pass on seconds myself!

Beach Bum Livin

I have a ton of my own footage from over the past year that I need to edit and put into final video. I've been so busy working, a good thing, that I haven't had the time and energy to do that. Plus my pc is slow when it comes to video editing. In addition to that my life being married with children (even as blessed a life that is) isn't very cooperative with the demands of producing videos. In fact, in just writing these past few sentences I had to pause - twice now - to give attention to children.
At any rate, I do have time to watch great videos from other woodworkers. Watching doesn't require as much time and energy from me. With that said, I recently found another avid woodworker whom produces on-line videos - Beach Bum Livin.
I like how he uses a lot of reclaimed wood (pallet wood, drift wood, etc.).

And the child-interruptions are now up to four ;-)
where was I?

Okay, Beach Bum Livin - here's a video of his in which he makes a really neat coffee table using an intarsia-style painted top.
Enjoy!





Ray Ladouceur
Dogwood Tales

A Mobile Workshop Idea

While I do not have a great need for a mobile workshop, but there sure have been times when I wish I did have something like the set up in this video, this video shows a well designed mobile workshop that puts my lack of organization in my own workshop to absolute shame.

In watching this one time I already picked up on a couple ideas for my own 1-car garage workshop. One of which is how to make the miter saw set up more compact. I don't want to get rid of my miter saw as I use it often enough, but it takes up a lot of space relative to my 11'x25' workshop.

The idea of sliding the miter saw out when needed would probably conserve a good 6 inches of space out from the wall. Believe it or not, that would clear up a lot of space for me between the miter saw and the workbench. Hope this video gives you some ideas for space utilization and organization in your workshop.






Ray Ladouceur
www.dogwoodtales.com

Click here for floor refinishing

Current special - Parquet flooring refinishing for only $1.50 per square foot.
Check out the link below for more information.

http://floorrefinishingcincinnati.blogspot.com/2012/09/current-special-as-posted-on-craigslist.html

Have a great day!
Raymond

www.floorrefinishingcincinnati.com
www.dogwoodtales.com