Hardwood

The weather in Nashville really doesn't get much better than today. Sunny, breezy, just a hint of crisp in the air, a touch of moisture, everything blooming and swollen with life. Eureka!

I spent the day in Joelton working at Bob's house on Clarksville Highway. The drive out of town was fine, early Spring light washing over everything. Upon arrival, I grouted a tile backsplash, installed some light fixtures and sanded and sealed the new floor in one of the bedrooms.

I am crazy for wood these days. I really like working with it. Bob and Raymond taught me how to lay hardwood floors last year and I have come to find the process very rewarding. Laying the planks is pretty hard on the back, but there is something magical about building this really strong organic surface out of a lot of individual pieces. I like to try to coordinate the different grain structures of each piece into some kind of harmonic visual pattern when possible. When I stare at it all for awhile the grain starts to look like water, like the boards are kind of flowing together.

I used to dislike the sanding process because of the unwieldy nature of the sander, but I've grown into it. It requires a certain kind of patience that a lot of other activities in my life do not. The trick to doing it correctly is performing multiple passes with different grades of sandpaper. It looks like a brutal process with the sander whining away and dust flying everywhere. But it is kind of delicate, in a way. It's like I'm rubbing off all the dirty fingerprints and grit and general Home Depotness the poor wood has had to endure since it left its original condition. I like the way the friction of the sander reforms the wood and seems to kind of seal the surface. I have to go fairly slowly, doing six passes in three different directions with 40 grade sandpaper (the roughest), then six more with 80, then four with 100 and 120 (the finest). Then I go around the edges of the room (Where the big sander cannot reach) with the small orbital sander, repeating all of the grades there.

By the end of it, the wood is gleaming. It looks supple, almost flesh-like. I vacuum it very thoroughly with the Shop Vac and then apply a coat of oil-based sealer with a roller. This leaves the surface very shiny for a minute or two, like a girlfriend that just stepped out of the shower. Then the grain of the wood starts to raise up a bit as the sealer seeps into it. Yes, it is a little disillusioning to watch the smooth texture disappear, but I take comfort in knowing that, once it dries, I will go back with an even finer grade of sandpaper, knock down the raised grit, vacuum, and then apply a couple of more coats of varnish. I'l take a picture when it is finished.