Wood heart Valentines day gift

[micktoon]

Evening Everyone, just a quick post with what I made for 'wor lass' for Valentines day gift. As most people will know Geordie men are some of the most romantic men on planet earth . I am not really sure what wood this is, but its a burr , could be walnut ? Anyway I band sawed a heart shape out of a block that was just slightly bigger than the heart shape.



I then ran the router around to remove some of the bulk of wood I wanted off, keeping it constant from center line.



I then started sanding by hand with P40 paper on sanding block type thing as in this photo, trouble was by the time it was held enough to be able to sand it , I couldnt get good angles to sand the shape.



Plan 'B' was Makita 4 inch electric sander upside down on the bench and hold the heart against the rotating belt .... still not that easy but doable.



Then just sanded with rough belt until I more or less has the shape I wanted.



From then I had a smaller hand sanding block with sponge type soft flexible side to it and refined the shape through finer grits of sand paper.



Until it ended up like this , I think it was P600 , then a 3M type grey sanding pad.



This was final finish.



Then a coat of cellulose sanding sealer , that was wiped straight off when still wet so it just seals the wood but leaves it still smooth.



I then buffed it on the lathe with this 'Pine brush' , its quite fine but just gets things a little smoother, then it was waxed and buffed up with a cotton buff again on the lathe.



This was the finished item , it looked more smooth and shiny than in the photo to be honest......................... I am pleased to reporrt that she was very happy with it so all the sanding was worth it in the end :thumbup:

Cheers Mick

[Stanley]

Superb as usual.... Sickening isn't it when you know you haven't the patience or tolerance to wood dust to be able to do it.....

[micktoon]

Hi Stanley , I think you would easy have the patience to do this type of thing, some of the gear cutting etc would take more patience than this I am sure. Shame about the wood dust side of it though , only options are good mask or if you did proper carving ................ where the design was suitable to leave the item finished from the tools , chisels , gouges it makes no dust. One good thing about the carving is its quiet and peaceful and clean compared to the metal work , more a kin to drawing or painting really.
Have you any projects planned in the shed soon ?
Cheers Mick.

[Stanley]

When I go in it will have to be warmer and first job is to finish the brass nameplates.... It will come, the blood is stirring already!