Inertia

Do your projects ever teach you lessons? Mine do. This particular project taught me how not to load furniture in a truck!

Back in June we decided to replace my husband’s 10-year-old Volkswagen Jetta with a little truck. (It was his idea to replace the car. It was MY idea to replace it with a truck!) I was tickled at the prospect of having a truck to cart around my furniture projects! So shortly after we bought the truck, my oldest daughter and I took it garage-sale-ing.

We hit pay dirt. We purchased a cedar chest and a little maple buffet for a grand total of $60 at the same garage sale! I was cool and collected outside, but giggling delightedly inside.

There was just enough room to put both pieces in the truck (it’s not a very big truck). How shall we put them in? Why, back-to-back, of course! That way the wood won’t get scratched! We didn’t own any tie-downs yet, but we had sprung for the bed-liner. I was sure we would be fine on the short drive home.

And truly, all was well! At first. I drove slow. I was careful! But there came a time when I had to make a right-hand turn, and I heard a big CRASH!

My heart stopped.

Quickly I pulled over and jumped out to survey the damage.

Remember your high school physics class? What was it Newton said…

An object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same velocity and in the same direction…

Inertia. It’ll get you every time.

What inertia got was the drawer for the buffet. The truck went right; the drawer wanted to keep going straight…and it did, right into the street! <sigh>

One of the handles on the drawer broke, and one of the corners snapped off. There were various other abrasions and contusions, but we came out pretty lucky, all things considered!

I am lacking a proper “before” picture of this little maple buffet. I only found one “in progress” shot.

I decided to give this piece on of my favorite stained-top-painted-base treatments, and some brand-new hardware.

Note to self: When you decide to use one set of the original holes for the hardware, make sure you use the SAME SET on both sides of the drawer. Failing to do so may result in harsh words.

I used two coats of Minwax Antique Walnut stain on the top, and finished it with the Hand-rubbed Polyurethane. I *love* how it turned out.

I fixed the bottom corner of the drawer with a little wood glue, and sanded out the other scrapes. You can’t tell that she took a header onto the street now!