Day 9 (Ryan)

 Today is the second to last day of woodworking and the day to get things done! In the morning I finished sanding my table top with 320 grit so it was very smooth. I thought 220 grit was going to be enough but it was not as smooth as I’d like it to be. Since Mahogany has such a little layer of I had to not put any pressure while I was sanding so I did not start to reveal the plywood underneath. Next I screwed in my table top to the base using 8 screws driving them into the pocket holes. This was a little challenging because the base was lifting from the table top, and when I drilled into the wood the screw did not go all the way in. To fix this issue I used two DeWalt clamps to hold the base to the table top, this worked ok at first but Todd not satisfy me. I got two more clamps and clamped the aprons down to the tape top so the screw would go all the way in. This worked great, and there was no gap in between the base and the top. After that I took a little break and when I got back I did the most fun step, and in my opinion the easiest step varnish! This is when you put a layer of oil on the wood. The second you put varnish on the table it started to shine and make it look like a professional table making the mahogany stand out. Going from a light brown to a dark brown. Because I was doing such a big surface area I wore gloves so I did not get my hands dirty and sticky. I varnished all the way through for the first time and made sure there were no spots I missed. To apply the varnish I used old cloth. After I finished the first layer I put it in the other room to let it dry . After lunch I am going to take it back out and I am going to use steel wool to completely rub the entire table. Doing this gets rid of the extra oil that did not go into the wood. After I do that I will  give it another coat of varnish and repeat the process of letting it dry and then using steel wood. After I completely finish the varnish process, I’m going to go over the table and fix minor errors, when I finish with that I’m completely finished with the table and it will be complete. In the afternoon I did my last varnish after lunch  and let it sit until tomorrow. After I did that I went around and watched other people complete their projects.