What did you do today?

[JohnG]

Big thanks to @Chestnut and @Bmac for their input on chainsaw milling. I'll post my setup when I've got it ready.

[pkinneb]

Spent some more time on my DP table today

First I cleaned up the edges of the maple banding. @Coop I did this and the curved corner below on the edge sander, you had asked the other day what I use that machine for, stuff like this  

Next up I cut the laminate to size on the table saw, the aluminum piece is to insure it doesn't slide under the fence and ruin my day.

Then contact cement on both pieces, let it dry, and stick them together

Now to add a little edge design to match my router table top

FYI if there is anyone in the MPLS area interested in saving the old table from the firepit just let me know all you have to do is pick it up.

[Tom King]

The old one is much better than any I've ever had.

Is that solvent based, or water based contact cement?  I still use solvent base.  Back when they first came out with water based, I never could get good results with it.  I'm sure it's better these days, but I haven't been brave enough to try it on anything.  I've getting ready to mount some Formica for several things in our dog room.

I've been fixing walls, and painting bedrooms in the rental house for the past week, or two.  I'll start another thread about that fairly soon.  I had accumulated so many different kinds of brushes, that I forgot which ones I liked, so I've figured that out now, and have tried a bunch of newer ones.

One room had been painted with a brush like you put basement waterproofing on with, and some kind of enamel that was harder than concrete.  It looks perfect now, but that's a whole story in itself.  I think I have redoing walls figured out pretty good now.  Rolling is many times slower than spraying, but for various reasons, I didn't want to get into spraying in that house.

[drzaius]

5 minutes ago, Tom King said:

Is that solvent based, or water based contact cement?  I still use solvent base.  Back when they first came out with water based, I never could get good results with it.  I'm sure it's better these days, but I haven't been brave enough to try it on anything.

With careful attention to drying, I've had success with water based stuff, but it's pretty fussy. Haven't used it for several years though. I managed to find some solvent based a couple of years ago, but instead of the normal solvent, it smelled like acetone. It was way worse than any water based cement I've ever used.  Horrible stuff.

I'd say it's water based that Paul's using because of the milky color. It turns more clear when dry.

[pkinneb]

Yep it is water based I have used it for many years, for laminate, without issues as long as you make sure both sides are dry before sticking together

[pkinneb]

Finished up the DP table today, just needs a couple coats of poly on the edge.

The smaller table provides more room for the mortiser I bought earlier this year and matches the router table becuase well that's important right 

[Coop]

Paul, when you get a chance, will you post a pic of the edge sander. I googled it with no results. Thanks. 

Oooops, forgot to hit send.

The drill press table is sweet. I like the flip stop! 

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, Coop said:

Paul, when you get a chance, will you post a pic of the edge sander. I googled it with no results. Thanks. 

Oooops, forgot to hit send.

The drill press table is sweet. I like the flip stop! 

Here you go

[Coop]

I’ll be darned. I didn’t know such machine existed. That’s a neat deal. Thanks

[Chestnut]

Been busy doing a last minute garage sheetrock and finish.  There are too many unknowns with Covid that we are deciding to do our wedding reception at our house with a reduced guest list. I have 25 days to get this finished. Insulation is 75% done. I have a couple outlets to add tonight and then should have all the prep done.

I'm doing this fast and not planned as well as I'd like. I'm 100% sure future me is goign to be upset with past me for a snap decision I made that was wrong.

[Mark J]

Well good luck with the project.  For what it's worth I have more confidence in your "past me" then you do.

[Tom King]

Find some USG plus 3 joint compound (sheetrock mud), if you can.  I bought a small bucket of it from Sherwin Williams, since I was in there anyway, for use in the rooms I'm painting in the rental house.  It's By Far the nicest working sheetrock mud I've ever worked with.

As much as I hate sheetrock, I have hanging, and finishing it down to a science.  I think I have a partial how-to somewhere in these forums.

I use a long cement finishing trowel to apply mud over tape on the tapered joints.

You may be in a large enough population area that you can find Gold Bond XP (purple stuff) sheetrock.  If so, I wouldn't use anything else.  It's my first choice.

edited to add;  Looks like Home Depot has that mud:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/USG-Sheetrock-Brand-4-5-Gal-Plus-3-Lightweight-All-Purpose-Pre-Mixed-Joint-Compound-381466/100321602?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&mtc=Shopping-B-F_D22-G-D22-22_12_GYPSUM-NA-NA-Feed-SMART-NA-NA-New_Engen&cm_mmc=Shopping-B-F_D22-G-D22-22_12_GYPSUM-NA-NA-Feed-SMART-NA-NA-New_Engen-71700000076048521-58700006492368438-92700058650472926&gclid=CjwKCAiA-_L9BRBQEiwA-bm5fm4-dMbhHXVbv34CeVHZWFi9IVlPaKek7DAuI5aPbCnSxvEgV64Q4xoCt1QQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Tom King]

I found the previous thread.   Another thing I figured out last week is that I got lucky with a Hyde 6" taping knife.  It had some rust on it, so I bought a Purdy from the S-W store.  I cleaned up the Hyde, and will stick with that one.  I can spread mud with it that looks like a plaster wall.  The Purdy (not the stainless steel one which was too stiff, but the carbon steel one) left tracks on the edges of overlapping passes.  Buy a Hyde one.

Here's the thread  from Sept. 3, 2018:  

 

[Chestnut]

What is the benefit of the 20" cement trowel over a 20" drywall knife?

I do remember that post. I also remember talking about this over messages. Your method has been very helpful and allowed me to get a good method of my own. I think everyone approaches everything a bit differently. My first coat of mud is a setting type of compound because I'm awful at hanging rock and left huge gaps. Drying compound took forever to dry and would shrink and crack which took more time. The setting type stuff I was able to fill larger holes and get the work done faster. More often than not time is my biggest hurdle. There are other benefits to the setting mud importantly it's harder and doesn't sand with a sponge. I sand with a sander on the first coat and then with a sponge on the next coats.

13 hours ago, Tom King said:

Find some USG plus 3 joint compound (sheetrock mud), if you can. 

This is the only stuff i buy. Though i never understood what the green pail of all purpose stuff was for. I have enough pails so i usually buy the boxes.https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/drywall/joint-compound/sheetrock-reg-plus-3-reg-pre-mixed-lightweight-all-purpose-joint-compound-carton-4-5-gallon/380285/p-1444445400524-c-13060.htm?tid=-3116231172863930252&ipos=17

 

[legenddc]

That's about how much compound I need to fix a small hole...my drywall skills aren't very good.

Best of luck finishing up the garage. I hope you have a heater in there as things get cold.

[Chestnut]

20 minutes ago, legenddc said:

That's about how much compound I need to fix a small hole...my drywall skills aren't very good.

Best of luck finishing up the garage. I hope you have a heater in there as things get cold.

It's not hard at all it's just practice. It's one of those skills that anyone can master if they just give it enough time. I started learning by fixing holes in college... i got a lot better after demoing and remodeling an entire house. A lot of it comes down to how and how much pressure you apply to the knife.

[legenddc]

18 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

It's not hard at all it's just practice. It's one of those skills that anyone can master if they just give it enough time. I started learning by fixing holes in college... i got a lot better after demoing and remodeling an entire house. A lot of it comes down to how and how much pressure you apply to the knife.

I once taped up a piece of computer paper to the wall in college to pass an inspection. Finished it properly before we moved out. I'm slowly getting better at fixing drywall. 

[Tom King]

I think the cement trowel is better for me because it's stiffer, and more mechanical advantage with the handle closer to the edge.  I use a pretty good amount of pressure on it, turned up on edge.  After I get mud, and tape in place, one pass is all it gets on the first two coats.  I don't dab around with it.

Everything I do is not only about ending up with the best job, but in the most efficient manner I can come up with, and continue to refine the process.  I couldn't have built one house a year, beyond a million dollars in value, starting from the ground up, with only my hands, and two helpers that could almost read a tape measure if they worked together, if every step wasn't efficient.

That included never buying  prehung door, or a pre-made cabinet.

Sheetrock was just a few days of the whole project.

I don't know if the other thread mentioned it, but if the paper ever gets torn, or damaged in any way, put yellow glue on it.  The paper will soak it up, and be hard tomorrow.  Then it can be sanded, and mudded.  I had some big holes to fix on this current job, where we decided to do away with curtain rods that had been mounted in the sheetrock with metal, expanding anchors.  Once I got them out, I put yellow glue on it, sanded, and finished normally.  You can see no evidence.

Two things that have Really paid off on this job are the Bosch beast 6" random orbit sander, ShopVac with hepa bag, and supplied air.  No dust in the air, and none in my nose.  On that sander, 240 was as coarse as I could use, and have control of the mud sanding level.  It still did the sanding Really fast.  

Always prime over any sanded mud, or the paint with have "dry" looking spots.  That means, with my method, that some places will have two coats of primer.

I just use the mud out of the bucket.  No mixing, or thinning.  Thinning with water makes it easier to spread, but it also shrinks more.  It's easy to get used to using it right out of the pail, but some places made need a second pass with the knife to smooth popped bubbles out.  That saves not only the mixing time, but cleanup time of the mixing stuff.

[drzaius]

Good tip about the glue on paper tears. For the small holes I use the handle of the putty knife to depress the edge of the hole, but larger tears can be real challenge.

Not priming over mud can be a big mistake. Non-primer paint does not always bond well with mud & it can just flake away. I'm dealing with a bit of that now repainting my house. The painter that did the media room didn't use primer & there were several places where the paint didn't stick well. That's part of the reason I'm DIYing it this time.

[Tom King]

I put glue on the small holes too.  I feel like it's a more permanent fix than just compressing the sheetrock core.  The gypsum absorbs the glue, and it makes the area a hard place, instead of a crumbling one in disguise.  On the walls I'm doing now, there were a bunch of little holes from tiny nails, not even in studs, holding fancy little plates on display.  On most of those, where there was not also a little flap of paper, the glue was all that was needed.

The big Bosch ROS has been a lifesaver.  I've had to sand the whole walls in every room, but it's gone pretty fast with this sander.  I think I bought it for $299 a few years ago.  I was going to get another one, in case this one quit, but when I checked the price on Amazon, it's now up to $757.  I expect this one will last just fine.

[Chestnut]

DO you stagger butt joints on the ceiling?

[Coop]

I do for some reason or another, not sure why? Just seams like the right thing to do. It sure makes for more difficult taping and floating. 

[drzaius]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

DO you stagger butt joints on the ceiling?

I stagger all butt joints, but with Tom's method, I don't think it would be of any benefit.

[Tpt life]

Stagger butts if the sheet is any part of the shear calculation. If not, do whatever you want. 

[drzaius]

4 hours ago, Tpt life said:

Stagger butts if the sheet is any part of the shear calculation. If not, do whatever you want. 

Even with drywall? I did not know that. The 1/2" lightweight drywall that's so common today is hardly stronger than cardboard.