Journey to the Center

A decade ago, a coworker and I picked up some goldfish and a 2 gallon tank. Over time, and with a lot of trial and error, I now have 2 stable fish tanks. One is a long 30 gallon and is home to a few tetras, a pair of cories and a single Opaline gourami that hides all the time. This tank is a bit overgrown with its live plants, but the addition of a second filter and heater has stabilized the plant growth immensely. One of these days I’ll clean up the plants and get an actual light for it (the tank is a 30 year old hand-me-down and doesn’t have all the right pieces any more) and take some pictures. The fish are happy, especially when the cats are leaving them alone.

But this tank isn’t that interesting to me. I built it out mostly for my husband, who likes tropical fish. He likes the colors and the flash that you only get in warmer waters. I actually think these fish are unintelligent and have no personality. Of course, I could be prejudiced by the constant hiding. One of the cats is convinced she can get the fish by swatting the outside of the tank.

My favorite tank right now is the one that’s becoming a problem. I started with 3 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank, not realizing that they’re messy and will get enormous. As they grew, I had to invest in a larger tank. They’re down to 2 (one didn’t survive the move) in a 30 gallon. It’s planet with a few anubias and java fern, since those seem to be the only plants these two won’t eat. In fact, that’s the only thing they won’t eat. They’re now so huge, about 6 inches each, that we need a new tank for them.

So last month we went and bought a 120 gallon tank. We’re slowly gathering all the parts to put it together, and I’m going to aquascape this one thoroughly. I even have a layout in my head for all the plantings, after flipping through some amazing books on layout. I am very excited about this project.

But the best part? Tomorrow we head to the lumber yard to pick up wood to build the stand. We’re not buying a stand from the store, rather we’re taking plan for a generic stand and crossing it with the plan for the bookshelf we built. The melding of these two will give me a stand that has space for books AND all the aquarium stuff. The tank is even deep enough that the stand with have room to hold additional hardware, should I get the bug to go crazy on the plant maintenance.

Between the woodworking and the tank setup, I’m going to have lots to talk about over the next few months.

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I’ve finally finished the bookshelf that I built with my father. I’d put off staining or sealing it because I was paranoid about my ability to get a nice, even stain applied. My success on previous projects was directly proportional to the color I picked - the darker the stain, the worse I applied it. Especially in cases where I really wanted the color but not the saturation. As a result, this bookshelf has been sitting in various pieces waiting for me to get some courage for over a year.

Two weeks ago I finally got the bug. I decided that I really liked the color of the red oak without any stain at all, so all I needed was to seal it. We get tons of natural light, so 3 coats of varnish is essential for anything to retain even a bit of its intended color. The living room floor is a perfect example of this - the color fades from one side of the house to the other in direct proportion with the amount of sun.

The trouble with 3 coats of anything is that it takes 4 hours between coats. So it took 4 sets of painting sessions (yes, 12 total) to get everything sealed. It took a couple of weekends, especially with other projects thrown in, but I’m done. And the piece is beautiful. I’m still deciding whether or not I want to wax over the sealant to protect the wood from scratching and daily abuse, but for now it’s actually holding books.

Additional images in the gallery.

Some days I feel like Ahab, frantically trying to find and slay the great white whale. Others, there is the realism of Ishmael as he tries to cope with the insanity that slowly burgeons around him. It is no accident that we’ve named this workbench the Great White Whale.

My father and I worked on the danged thing on the 6th, the day before I became officially old. We had one objective - to get the 3 pieces of the top together. This wasn’t a trivial undertaking as each piece consisted of five 74″x2″ pieces of hard maple. Not only that, they were crooked. I don’t know that I’ve ever tried to put heavy crooked things together before, but I certainly won’t be doing it again. We had to slide two of the three together to see if the were straight enough to connect or crooked enough to merit trying to straighten. Turned out there was no way on earth those things were going to fit together, they bent different directions. And yes, there was a definite up side that couldn’t be changed.

So we had to straighten. This shouldn’t have been a a problem. Dad had a router (a really powerful one) and a straight bit for it. Cut the top half of the edge, cut the bottom and you’re done! Just like the pictures! Right. Like anything in this project has been just like the pictures. We mad the calculations for where we’d have to cut to get a straight, aligned edge and affixed the straightedge. The first setting we tried for the router was too slow - it was shredding the edge instead of cutting it. So Dad says “Let’s set it faster, that should cut it properly.” He cranks the router from 1 to 4 and pulls the trigger. I’m supporting the worktop from the back so it doesn’t slide away. When the router touches, it grabs the worktop and pulls - RRRRRRRRR! Dad let go of the trigger and we’re staring at a quarter inch gouge.

I think I’ll cut the swearing. But obviously at this point, the router’s out. We need to play with it on something we haven’t been working on for a YEAR to see what it can do. But the table saw. There has to be a way to do this, right? It cuts straight lines. And we have to cut out the gouge anyway. There is NO WAY that we’re leaving that thing in there. So we start playing with the straight edge and angles and measures and rotation and finally get it so that yes, the line we’re going to cut is straight. Several passes later, the whole of the gouge is gone and we have a straight edge on the worktop. It’s a miracle!

We mirrored the technique on the other 4 edges that needed to be cut, and lined those puppies up. They fit perfectly. No wood filler necessary and beautiful! No one will ever know that one of the boards is short by 1/4″. And I’m not pointing that out.

The next step? Getting these things placed on the 3 pieces of ready rod that will connect them. The first piece was easy, we got to stick it on the eThe next step? Getting these things placed on the 3 pieces of ready rod that will connect them. The first piece was easy, we got to stick it on the end and pound the ready rod into the holes. It just barely fit, but it went through. Then we had to call on Mom for help. She held the rod up perpendicular to the floor, keeping the first third upright while Dad and I hefted the middle piece into position to get the rod into the holes.

Lining that thing up while avoiding smashing Moms fingers and not dropping it was a minor challenge. Holding the already attached piece upright while Dad swung a slegdehammer at the new piece and protected it with a bit of 2×4 was an adventure. Avoiding the hammer and the bits of 2×4 spraying off when it hit while keeping those two pieces in place proved to be a challenge. However, this time I didn’t end up with any bruises on the insides of me knees from the wood. Gluing the edge to keep the pieces in place permanently was cake. And then we got to do it again with the third section.

Miraculously, no splinters ended up in places other than on the floor.

Of course, then we had to move the assembled worktop into the house so that the glue could cure at the proper temperature. Dad has a cart-like thing, but getting the heavy worktop onto it took all three of us and some creative maneuvering. That cart has 4 wheels that can turn any which way, and it likes to travel. Keeping it in place while weilding a couple hundred pounds of wood was quite a challenge. But we did get the worktop inside and laid down. I even got the wax paper in place to protect the floor from the dripping glue. The pipe clamps went on quickly and we were done! About ready to crash, but done!