Before epoxying the other half of the handle in place I
need to flatten the cured epoxy out so there are no points higher than the wood
handle. To do that I clamped a piece of
120 grit sandpaper to my flat table saw extension and carefully sanded away all
the excess epoxy until I was left with a smooth flat surface ready to glue the
other half on. The top photo shows the
flattening in progress and bottom one shows the end result.
Gluing the second half on follows the same process as the
first side except I do not have to put a piece of plastic between the glue and
the clamps. Here is what it looks like
clamped together. Note the little
triangle just right of center on the handle.
I use this to make sure the parts are aligned and oriented
correctly. Why you ask, did I glue up
the handle in two steps rather than going ahead and gluing it all up at
once. I could have but was concerned
about having to align three pieces without one of them getting out of position. I thought that taking it one step at a time
reduced the chance of one or more of the pieces getting out of whack.
The next day I took off the clamps and was ready to go
from the clunky handle shown here to one that fit comfortably in my hand.
First, I cut the assembly to rough length then laid out
the curve on each side with a French curve.
For those that do not know what a French curve is here is a photo. You can use various parts of it to make all
sort of curves and transitions between them.
Doing one is easy making a mirror image is a little more involved. In order to make sure the curves matched I
made some reference marks on the French curve so when I marked the second side
it was a true mirror image.
With the curve marked I used the drum sander to remove
material and bring it to shape. I
stopped frequently to see how it felt and to confirm that both sides were a
mirror of each other. Not surprisingly
as I fashioned the piece and held it the curves I had laid out got changed a
little. Not a lot but never the less
what I ended up with was not exactly what I had originally drawn. That’s not a surprise as I frequently change
details as the project evolves.
Once the handle felt right in my hand, I sanded it pretty
smooth then using a 1/8” radius roundover bit in my router I radiused the
outside edges. Couple of things here,
first I used a holder to keep my fingers away from the router bit when making
the cut and second when actually making the cut you really need to be
extremely careful and not let the bit get into the stainless-steel
spatula. Getting your fingers tangled up
with the router bit or hitting the spatula blade while making the cut will not
end well for either your fingers or the spatula.
Once the hard edges have been softened by routing it’s
time to do the final sanding. For this
piece I worked my way up through the grits going finer and finer until I had
sanded all the way to 400 grit. Here is
what that looks like ready to finish.
I considered a few different finishes for this project;
lacquer, oil-based polyurethane and Danish Oil.
Each has their advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, I decided against both the film
finishes - lacquer and polyurethane. My
reasoning was that because they are a surface applied film that through normal
wear and tear at some time in the future I will have to refinish the
piece. Lacquer can be removed via the
use of lacquer thinner but polyurethane is a much harder finish to remove. A penetrating oil like the Danish Oil finish
it easily renewed by a thoroughly cleaning and then reapplying another coat or
two of the oil.
Below, the top photo shows the setup for applying the
finish. I wrapped the blade with
painter’s tape to keep any finish off it.
The bottom photo shows what the first coat looked like while it was soaking
in. My process is to liberally apply the
oil, let it set for about 15 minutes then wipe on more making sure to cover any
areas where all the oil had soaked in.
After letting it set for another 10 or 15 minutes, I wipe whatever was
left on the surface off. Next is to
check back every 5 minutes or so for the next 15-20 minutes to wipe off any oil
that has bled back out of the wood. If
you don’t do that the finish that “bleeds” out can create a bit of a gummy mess
to deal with when you go to add the next coat.
I let it set overnight to cure before repeating the process for the next
coat.
After applying three more coats of finish I let it sit
for about a week to cure then using a buffing wheel loaded with Carnauba wax
buffed it to add a little extra protection.
To add the wax, I use a buffing wheel mounted on the lathe. Here is that work in progress. 
With the wax applied, the project was finished and here
is what it looks like.
Yep, 92 cents of wood and $200 labor to fix a $5 kitchen
spatula. No doubt not the most
cost-effective way to solve the problem as just buying a new spatula would have
been a lot easier. However, I had a
small piece of the mesquite wood and wanted to see how it would turn out. Besides I like the way the Mesquite looks and
feels to me versus a plastic handled item.
Next up – The Chopping Block, Background & Making
“Bricks”
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