A Short Story. About a Nut.
A basement sash from the carriage house.
Did Ross just replace the broken glass and stick the sash back in place?
Nope.
And why not?
Because Ross is nuts.
As such, Ross had to strip the sash down to bare wood, both sides. Then apply three coats of amber shellac on the inside. And only then put in new glass.
When the glazing dries, Ross will apply oil-base primer, then two coats of oil-based gloss paint. Then reinstall the sash.
In a basement. On a building which is a mess outside. With a looming deadline.
But—and this is the important part—something will be just a tiny bit righter in the world.
15 Comments
Leave a Reply Cancel Reply
Your email address will NEVER be made public or shared, and you may use a screen name if you wish.
It is not crazy if it motivates you to keep going. I am sure you will be encouraged every time you think about or see this window.
No Rick, Ross is nuts.
Doug!
As my mama always said: It takes one to know…
Not yet.
but there are two more windows to go.
(my mama wasn’t talking about windows.)
Ross is a perfectionist. But with luck, he will never have to worry about this window again, because he can check it off his list.
Nothing nutty about it at all. It shows care and respect for a building. Shellac does not do good with water so shellac inside and paint outside.
I usually treat the raw wood where the glazing goes with linseed oil. It rehydrates the wood and then the wood doesn’t dry out the putty and make it crack by sucking all of the moisture out of it.
You wrote: “I usually treat the raw wood where the glazing goes with linseed oil.”
I do same, mlaiuppa!
Sometimes it seems properly reglazing wooden windows is fast becoming a lost art. I was lucky enough to have a work colleague that used to, as a teen, help her Dad reglaze their wooden windows. She came over one day and helped me reglaze one of my bathroom windows, replacing the glass with cross threaded glass for privacy. She showed me the ropes. We set the glass by hand but I have a point driver now. I did the second one by myself. I haven’t looked lately but I am wondering how hard it is going to become to find wood sash putty in the future. At some point I wonder if there won’t be any metal sash putty either as it seems windows are going vinyl and PVC.
One person’s insanity is another person’s normality. You do you, Ross. Well done with the window restoration.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve set something to rights and thought to myself “there, something better in the world, Ross would be proud!”
The window is beautiful!!
Beautiful job Ross. But, ah, you know, it is a bit on the nutty side. I still love you, but, ah, um, times a ticking and Cody is rounding the corner.
There is absolutely nothing nuts about this. As you well know, bitty steps add up. Just knowing there’s one less thing to do to make the carriage house right means it’s well worth it.
And that wood is absolutely gorgeous under the shellac.
Looking good! It’s the details that make the whole!
No doubts! Who said being nutty is a bad think?!? Life would be so boring it we weren’t a little nutty. 🙂