Solid Wood File Cabinet With Tung Oil Finish...

We bought a filing cabinet quite some time back for $20. It is solid wood (I would guess fir). I looked it up the other day and they go for $500-600 unfinished. I added new feet and replaced the toe kick plate with a new heavy duty one I made from scratch out of cedar. I searched for some online photos of pure Tung oil on unfinished furniture and did not really find what I needed, so I wanted to add some for others that might be also looking.

"With the drawer open you can see the before and after of the Tung oil on the wood surface..."

Keeping Santa Out Of Your Chimney To Save Energy...

One of the ways to lose a lot of heat is to leave the flue open on the chimney when you're not using it. Even if you shut the flue, many of them do not seal all that well. If you have any damage within your fireplace, like if your heat tubes have rusted out, you can have a large volume of cold air (ashy air at that) come in. This cold air can come in when you run your furnace, use your bathroom exhaust vent or burn a fire in a second fireplace that might be elsewhere in the house. ...And then there there is that big guy in the red and white suit, should you let him in?

"Does Santa really come down the chimney, and if so, how does he stay clean?"

Rhythm Is A Card Scraper...

Today I started working on an antique writing table. Not knowing antiques all that well I thought "U can't touch this" but since it was only the top that needed work, I thought, "well maybe I should"? I mean, this is not the Antique road show is it?

I needed to refinish the top. It could have been hickory or oak, I was not really sure. I used a Dewalt Random Orbital Sander (ROS) with a VERY aggressive Bosch 40 grit disk, connected to a full blown HEPA vac. Even then, the wood was so hard I realized it would take hours and hours of sanding, in Uggs in a cold shop.
I then remembered I bought a card (cabinet) scraper and a burnisher! I heard about them from The Wood Whisperer (TWW) and used his Amazon Store (you can too!) to buy them to support the show. Thanks Marc and all, even Mateo!
But, was the scraper sharp? And how to sharpen it?
Although I did not have the sharpening, grinding or polishing stones, I did have the burnisher mentioned, ya!: http://thewoodwhisperer.com/tag/scraper/
And ya, it was not hard to get that baby lookin sharp, Like can you handle this?

"I feel like dancing on the table like a superstar"

Attractive Pipe Insulation And Leak Repair...

We got up the other day and had not even started our day yet when we heard a sound outside that turned out to be a leak. Turns out a threaded PVC pipe had only been screwed in about two turns and for some unknown reason broke. It was right below the deck near the old hot tub area underground. After turning off the water and removing the pipe, how to get the broken-off part that was still screwed into the fitting out was then the next challenge. Even underwater, the best tool for the job ended up being a Hori Hori knife!

"In a place where animals, sun and weather are hard on insulation this box idea really helps..."