MYGROUNDUPSTARTUP Week 5 “Stains and Routers” 

January 21, 2022

I didn’t spend much time on the clocks this weekend because my girlfriend and I took a trip out of town to a town that has more than just a Walmart in it. Unlike our town.

We went to Lowe’s where we looked at some potential stains for the clocks, as well as how much hand routers cost. I don’t know anything about stains, but I figured I would get a couple and just try them out. There are some different stains and oils at the birdhouse shop where I work that I’ll try to use as well so that I don’t have to spend much money on different stains just to test them. 

Luckily my amazing girlfriend had a $50 Lowe’s gift card which saved me some money. Something that I have little of. We bought a walnut stain and medium walnut oil because we wanted to see what the difference was, and from what I’ve read, I think wood oils would be better. I’m hoping that in time I will lose some of my ignorance. But I know that will only come in time and experience.  

Harbor Freight

After we finished up at Lowes, we went to Harbor Freight to look at routers again and see what one would cost in comparison to the ones at Lowe’s. I think one from Harbor would be fine, but I just don’t know. I’d hate to buy a “cheap” router that would just break on me. I need it to last.

Walnut Stain

As soon as we got back from our trip, we used 2 of the clocks and stained them to see what we thought. I really think that walnut stains are a keeper. I think the oiled on does look a hair better but it’s almost impossible to tell the difference.

Picking a Router

I did some research on hand routers today and have picked one out. At first, I thought I was going to go with a Harbor Freight router, but after some research, I decided against that. Harbor Freight is known for having cheap tools and since I’d be using this router on every single clock, I think it’d be best if I bought a better quality one.

 I watched a YouTube video on different routers and which would be the best one for me and ended up picking a Bosch router. The only problem is it’s $200. Ughhhhh. Why does it have to be so expensive? I really need to be watching my spending more over the next couple of months. This clock idea has proven to be more expensive than I originally anticipated.