Look who’s back in the yard

Well, I came home the other day to find this lovely surprise, waiting for me to now sand the deck. 

note the fancy trailer connector, which allows the thing to come apart and fit in the shed

I really don’t think that high-gloss black looks very good.  As you will recall, Paul suggested we used high gloss this year because it might hold up better. It looks great on the hull, but on the rail it shows every flaw and bump, and let me tell you, after the traumatic rail repair of  the winter of ’18, there are bumps galore. 

Here's what it looks like close up, indoors:

Oy! It's RuPaul's Smack Race. Paul says that after a week in the salt water it’ll dull right down. We’ll see. Speaking of bumps--about the deck. . . . The object this time is to just get it smooth enough to paint.  With all the rubber caulk and epoxy near the covering board, though, it’s just gonna look like crap.

But yesterday I gave it the old college try.

And dragged out Papa bear, the 8” disc sander, whose disc I had apparently never changed.

 

It doesn't look that awful from far away.  But rest assured, there are bumps.

 

WTF???

This thing requires half and hour of wrestling and ¼ bottle of nail polish remover to get the old sandpaper off, and then you have to spray this yellow adhesive goo on the head and glue the sucker down.  Who ever heard of a more ridiculous way to put sandpaper on a sander?

I swear, I get all the best tools.

I know, I know, it’s the woodworker’s friend, and there must be something good about it, but honestly, I think it’s the stupidest thing that was ever invented.

But there I was, giving it my best, and remember, friends, I hated Papa Bear with a passion because it is big and mean and wants to fly all over the place and take anything in the way (like your shin) with it.  But I was getting good at it and realized that you do not glide that sander across the deck; you press down and guide it slowly, and if you want to move to a new location you lift the whole thing up and it becomes docile as a puppy. But if you leave it touching the wood it takes off and drags you to hell.

So I’m thinking, “Well, I’ve mastered you now, sucka,” and then all of a sudden I am pelted by a stream of small yellow spongy bullets and then a larger yellow thing goes flying off to my right and I look down and the whole disc assembly has disintegrated under my hands.

Because that’s the kind of craftsman I am.

 

I think that this sander’s days are quite numbered; I cannot find a replacement for it. I can’t even find anything like it in any catalogue, except a helpful model by 3M which costs $530. Um, no thank you. So now I’m using the teensy random orbital sander and dreading the lecture I will be getting for wrecking power tools.

At this rate, Jeff will be in the water by September.

Just in time to haul him out again.

Although I can’t say I mind sailing with no other boats around.   

Less stuff to hit, if you k. what I m.