Seat (Part 4)

We had an unusually sunny day today in Seattle.  I decided to take advantage of the weather to move outside to grind out the seat.  It was a good choice because this operation created a huge amount of dust.

I clamped the seat to my Workmate bench with rubber shelf liner under it for padding.  For grinding, I used my 4-1/2” angle grinder with a wheel called the Holey Galahad.  This wheel has hard, carbide teeth that aggressively chew through wood.  I used the coarse (blue) wheel.  Unlike other wheels, this brand has holes that both help to keep the wheel free of dust, and allow you to see through the wheel to better control the cut.  It was very easy to use.  

Because I neglected to band saw out most of the wood earlier, this task took more effort than it should have.  However, I was still able to finish in less than an hour.  I was careful not to go too deep in the seat.  After getting the shape roughed out to where I wanted it, I used my orbital sander with 80 grit paper to sand away the marks.  The result looks great.  There’s still a lot of detail work to do, and there are still some bumps that need to be sanded out, but that will be done after the legs are finished.

This step looks daunting, but it’s not that bad.  As long as you are careful around the edges, and are mindful to keep both sides symmetrical, you can shape it as much or as little as you want.  I had a few knots with open holes.  I filled those using some of the saw dust mixed with CA glue.  Once it dried, I sanded it flush.  It looks natural.

I recommend a full-face shield since this tool throws dust quite a distance.  By the way, I used my leaf blower to clean the saw dust from my driveway!  That was much easier that cleaning out my shop.