which one? there are several

I find disks rather useless and short life of the paper.

I couldn't live without my belt sander. I have some different but they work the same. Sold my combo and don't have disk sander. Just don't find any advantage. YMMV.

I have one and haven't had a single problem with it, the price is a little high (I think that's what mine cost new) but it's a good machine. I did replace the straight cutterhead with a segmented one, I prefer the carbide cutters for durability and ease of maintenance.

Wiping with DNA is a common way to do minor repairs on shellac. A test for shellac is to place a few drops of DNA in an inconspicuous place and give it ~15 minutes, if the finish softens then it's shellac. If you just moistened a finish the DNA will pretty much evaporate after a few minutes and the appearance will return to what it was previously, unless it's shellac.

As for a more durable topcoat I'd recommend GF EnduroVar or Crystalac Poly-Ox.

Some sandpapers have silicone in them - could have been the source.

Ok, you just can't post something like that and not explain how you did it? How'd you drill holes that big? Wine bottle sized hole saw or are these mini bottles?

BTW, pretty cool.

Hmmmm! There's a rule here that you might not have heard.

No Pics, Didn't Happen

projector? If you can project them onto a wall or panel, the image is easily infinitely adjustable.

Is the pew oak? I'm thinking if you stick to the original construction method of the ends, you'll be OK. Stick to the same wood as the original for the ends.

I'm kinda confused about the sign. Is this separate from the pew? Is it to be applied to the end of the pew? You have two choices on the delta gamma application. You can either rout the delta gamma into a background, or apply raised letters to a field. My vote would be routing the letters. Raised letters are more prone to getting banged into over the years, as the sorority moves the furniture around, with whatever events they have in the sorority house, etc.

He can't lay it out himself?

check troublefreepool.com, if plans aren't there folks on the forum can help design it.