The sticks to finish the rest of the coal dock decking arrived on Monday, and I wasted no time staining, chopping and gluing them in place. I impressed myself not only by estimating the number of boards exactly, but by doing the arithmetic in my head!
The India ink I have used thus far came from JR Paillard, Paris about thirty years ago. It says right on the bottle: “Ne pas se servir d’encre de chine trop vieille.” But, when I opened the bottle at VTEX last Saturday and discovered it had gone grainy, I had little alternative but to press on.
If I wipe the wood after staining, the worst effects go away, but it is difficult to control the darkness, and the deck has come out a little like a zebra. The whole thing will be covered in a layer of coal dust, and piles of coal as well. Indeed, so little will be visible, the board ends might be the only evidence of the work.
Those coal piles are also going to cover many of the nail heads, which I studiously pin-poked with oil paint last night. It’s probably best that they get covered, because I found after completion that nails on the lower section are probably not hitting the stringer below. Hand me the weathering powder. That’ll take care of it!
Pembroke:87 