BBQ Upgrade - (Assembly Complete)

Finished the assembly last night! I must admit, it looks much better with the varnish that it did without.

On closer inspection, I did notice several spots where the varnish had dripped or some run lines. However, given this was my first (without supervision) use of varnish, I'm thrilled with the results.

As I was applying the varnish, I realize I kept thinking it was like paint. I was trying to apply a thick coat. Bad idea! Although the can said to use a paint brush, next time I think I'm just going to use rags to apply the varnish (and maybe small brushes for those tight spaces/corners). I think that'll give me more control when applying it. Also, I'm going to get some cheap lights to setup as "raking lights" to help me see how the varnish is going on. (It's hard to see how and where the varnish has been applied, particularly after the first coat.)

Sunday the grill goes in!

BBQ Upgrade - (Assembly Part 2)

Today I was able to apply the first two coats of varnish to everything. I kind of glossed over it in my last post, but the first coat I used was Shellac. I don't know if Cypress has enough oil in it to cause problems with the varnish. So yeah, I'm being overly cautious and likely over-engineering the solution. I'm using varnish for the last three coats.

I probably could have gotten away with Thompsons Water Sealer or something, but I'm using this as practice for playing with different finishing options.  Here's what I'm using.

The Shellac was rather easy to use, cut it with denatured alcohol (1/2 and 1/2), and it gave the wood a nice color.  The following pictures were taken after the first coat of varnish was applied.  Not sure how well it comes through, but I was amazed at how nice it looked.

I have to admit, after the Shellac and two of the three coats of varnish it's looking really nice! (And to think, I was considering not bothering to finish it...)  One more coat of varnish tomorrow and then I'll let it dry for a couple of days.  I'll do the final sanding and assembly on Friday.

BBQ Upgrade - (Assembly Part 1)

Ok, I really need to read product descriptions more carefully. First, after checking all the measurments for the Primo and the Table to make sure they'd fit, I never thought to check the weight of the Primo.... 200lbs!!! And there's no good way to grab it. Doh! Second, the Table (which I took the time to assemble on Friday).... Yeah, that's unfinished (and given how humid my garage gets, I need to seal the wood).

Oh well, on the plus side I get to experiment with finishing.  I purchased "A Simple Varnish Finish" from the Wood Whisperer store.  (For a newbie like me, this was a huge help!)  Since the table's Cypress (and I read online that it's a slightly oily wood), I'm using Shellac for the first coat just to seal the oil in the wood.  Then I'll going to use 2-3 coats of clear gloss varnish to finish. I spent this morning sanding and putting the first coat of Shellac on it.  Here's the result:

I'll post again after I finish applying the varnish to show the final product.