Thursday, November 26, 2009

quick and dirty

It's that time of year again, the holidays. If I can get ten minutes in the shop it's only through hard-won persuasion. "oh yea, the turkey needs to sit for a while" "the mashers will cook for at least twenty more minuets" and when I do get out the excuse is "they're Christmas presents"



But I did have at least one good project.
New chairs!
no wait...
I still have to plan them, build a mock-up, test the fit and feel, find the right wood...



Oh yea, there was one other thing I needed to do...
Two moves ago the dining-room table leaves disappeared. They are probably still mouldering away in the damp, rat infested basement of the Gingerbread House. So here we have eleven family members trekking to our cramped little home, and the table's only fifty inches long.
You know how this works.

"honey, I'm going to the lumber yard"

mmm, some nice oak will be perfect...
A couple swipes with the jointer and a painless glue-up, a pass or two with the smoother, and a quick matching edge molding with a shoulder plane and block plane. A matching apron with a small grove near the bottom, stick it on with the Kreg, a few holes with the bit and brace and some dowels, and here we go...

no wait...
something's not right here...
they don't line up with each other
oh crap..

well I got a little lesson in truing a panel, a few strokes with the jack plane and a pass or two with the jointer and flip it over on the table saw to parallel the other side. and bingo, there it is!
Since it's covered with a table cloth it really doesn't matter if the color is even close, but I'll be sitting there, running my fingers over the transition between the leaves and the original and I'll smile a little that I can't tell the difference.