Thanks arnoo1!
Thanks TheMailMan78, yes, I did sand between coats, with progressively finer grits. Before the final coat of polyurethane I believe I did a quick sanding with 400 grit.
I managed to remove the wax with some paint thinner and a lot of elbow grease. The next time I used much less wax and you're right, it was a lot easier and there was no need for the buffer!
I remember reading that article many times - have it bookmarked, in fact! Thanks for the reminder though, that website is an excellent resource!
Hehe, got it all fixed up
So - I finally had some time this weekend to do a bit of work on The Ultimate Computer Desk.
Here's a little shot of the desk as it sits now. Note that the drawers aren't installed, there's clutter everywhere, the two cabinets are not lined up in any particular fashion, and of course, no hardware has yet been installed.
http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/7575/img6205x.jpg
If you didn't notice, I finally said to myself "Ok Mr. You've been working on this desk for 8 months - time for a present". I ~finally~ ditched my old CRT monitor (Which was nice, at 1600x1200 resolution) and purchased myself a brand new 27" Asus. Sweet!
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4918/img6207v.jpg
That was my first new computer component in ages!
I moved on to the next part of the project, which was installing the drawers, so I got to work. Sorry about the pictures, I think I accidentally turned the auto focus off!
http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8962/img6210se.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9411/img6211le.jpg
Imagine my surprise when I went to go and slide the drawer in. The drawer was too wide! I accomodated for 0.25" on each side of the drawer, for the width of the drawer slides. Unfortunately, these particular drawer slides were 3/16's of an inch wider than I accounted for... Here's a wonderfully in focus shot:
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/443/img6212t.jpg
So my options were:
1. Redo the drawers completely, making them a total of 6/16's (3/8's) skinnier, or
2. Shave off 3/16's" from each side, about 1.5" tall, along the length of both sides, of each of the drawers.
What a bummer! I thought oh well, it'll actually look pretty tidy with the sides shaved anyways, and also give additional support, so here goes!
Time to tape up my poor drawers. They're about to get scratched up pretty bad!
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/8955/img6214g.jpg
Setting up the tablesaw for some "guidelines" - 3/16's of an inch deep, set the fence at 2" and then 3.5" if I remember correctly.
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5065/img6216em.jpg
And there you go, some proper guidelines for the material that will need to be removed.
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/7461/img6218d.jpg
This was a pretty big surprise, but not too major, and nothing that cannot be done well.