Hale Hana Aquarium Base Completion
fully installed cladding- Sadhaka Shankaranatha standing next to the completed project
- rough lumbar being sanded
- here we used our new shaper machine to create different profiles
- stiles and raises being cut on the table saw
- bandit the cat, in the shop for moral support
- here we laid out the 4 front panels to see what design we like best
- rough layout of one of the doors
- gluing side parts together
- first installed door
- we oiled the panels before assembling it
- after many coats of tung oil this is how it looks
- another photo of the front frame
- laying out the side pieces
- assembling the horizontal pieces
- laying out the doors
- gluing the bullnose to the horizontal boards
- Sadhaka using our sliding table saw
- sadhaka drills domino holes for joinery
- right side of the cladding
- both side pieces are oiled and drying
- all our pieces are drying from the most recent application of oil
- here we glued the side components and top bullnose to the front frame
- the Siddhidata Kulam delicately bring the cladding to the shop
- fully assembled cladding
Over the past six months, Acharya Kumarnathaswami and Sadhaka Shankaranatha have been crafting wooden cladding to go around the existing fish tank frame in the Hale Hana office space. They used ear pod wood grown on the island, which had been chainsaw-milled many years ago and left to dry in our sawmill. This was the monks’ first time working with this lumber.
After milling it in the sawmill, the wood went through jointing, planing, shaping, sanding, and finally oiling. The project was then installed by the monks. The assembly went very smoothly thanks to Acharya’s extensive planning. It was quite a challenge, as the existing frame was not near the shop, so all measurements had to be exact.
In recent weeks, as many of you have seen, we wrapped up the project. We used tung oil sealer followed by a tung oil hard oil for the topcoat. It was an amazing experience for Sadhaka Shankaranatha, who is just beginning to learn finish carpentry. The cladding blends beautifully with the koa vinyl flooring in our new office space.
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