Fabulous Sanding weekend

We finally decided to rip up the carpet in the hallway and stairs, which quite frankly was a stomach churning paisley pattern in orange and a mixture of other colours but basically looked like several hundred ginger tabby cats had been skinned and stitched together in the most appalling gut wrenching pattern imaginable.... we decided that sanding and staining of the stairs was in order because they are in good condition and would look lovely... well lets face it ANYTHING would look good after removing the 1970's monstrosity we had down there...

Now I DID have a lovely belt sander but like all things worth keeping from my first marriage like the kids, the dog, the house, the belt sander, a fantastic high powered Bosch drill, a Henry steam cleaner and of course my beloved Technics SL10 record player and numerous other items I have missed over the years my ex wife of course has them and most probably is going to hang onto them and would rather throw them away before offering them to me..... and besides all my old power tools probably hate me now and would refuse to work, the Henry probably doesn't suck any more and the Technics SL10 has probably forgotten all about me or has a bent stylus..... :( such is life


So I gave up trying to remember if I had brought it with me or not, or where I could have stored it, because I was pretty sure they were all rotting in some cupboard somewhere in Tumble..... so I decided to go off to B&Q to purchase one which was on offer for £49...I mean a man just isn't complete unless he has a full set of power tools....is he ?

Anyway I got there and chose the belt sander on offer only to be told by the spotty ginger Chimpanzee in the B&Q uniform complete with orange apron and one GCSE (in Art) that .......

"no sorry computer says no..... we don't have any sanders in stock, maybe you could try Focus DIY ?"

I didn't bother making a fuss or pointing out that it's pretty pointless having such a marvellous display of power tools but no stock to back it up ...... it really wasn't worth the blank expression I would have got in return...... :(

So off I went to Focus...and pulled another complete and utter blank there as well. I could have got a Black and Decker D45 orbital but my experience of orbital sanders boils down to them being frankly disappointing, they make a lot of impressive noise and give you lots of white finger and stop the TV from working when on... but in the sanding department they remove only slightly more than a woman's five year old nail file...and life is too short to spend it doing something pointless...... So I went home empty handed thinking how ridiculous it was that not one DIY shop in Carmarthen stocked a belt sander...

then my better half suggested after biting into her Caramel double chocolate ---> Argos !!!! in a flash of inspiration (she has them from time to time) and sure enough after browsing their site we found they did stock belt sanders for £29.99 !! well whaddya know ???

Ok it wasn't what you would call a well known make "Challenge Extreme" !! .... but what the hell... so off I went, it turned out it is BETTER than my nice one my ex wife had claimed post divorce, the only thing was the belts they supplied with it were Chinese and although they worked I HAD to invest in some well engineered German Bosch ones @ £9 for 3 ..... Vorsprung durch Sander !!

but fair do's once they were fitted the stairs were sanded in no time flat :) ... I fact I had a bit of a "what shall I sand next moment after I had finished" and I probably would have.... had the dust bag not got eaten by the sander ripping it to shreds in seconds, we both worked hard that day and there is/was wood dust everywhere, but it's going to be worth it in the end, the only thing that deeply concerns me is that I still found Andrea attractive with goggles and dust mask on :) but I think that's a flashback to an Eric Prydze video

Anyway all we need to do now is finish up the fine sanding and it's ready for some wood stain/Varnish in Oak with a satin finish of course.... we certainly get things done around here.... That's what I like about Andrea she gets things done and it's a partnership and we work well together and best of all we have a laugh doing it, well in-between gagging on the sawdust :) ....If I was still with my ex wife (shudder) I would still be looking at pink plaster walls no doubt.... and I wonder if she has put the skirting boards on yet ?..... :)

(ohhhh had a rather grim flashback then to dog hairs on the stairs and hallway at the former marital home swirling away as you walked up or down them....)..... Ho Hum life is good :)