my weekends have been spent hunting down elusive slabs of wood
how many beauties I've passed
I'd have a garage full by now if I stopped to pick each rose
what I seek instead is one with straight, even grain
boring old pieces yellowed from the store's florescent daylight
as I plane the transformation is unspeakable
some have been hiding immaculate fiddleback
most of which will be concealed once again
with each new section, the original bench is dismembered
only a couple bits have given me any fight
I really didn't know that much back then
the only thing holding some of the sections together was a Masonite spline
amazing what you learn in a few years
I still need a bench
it's my feeble attempt to keep enough mass containing dog holes to continue work
right now the center section remains the original bench top
the tool trough will inhabit the right hand upper third
for me, the most rarely used parcel except for stashing my winding sticks and hold fasts
the mountain I alluded to earlier is that from my planes
an endless stream emanates from the various versions of my bench
so many surfaces!
and they must mate
at least as close as I am willing to take them
I remind myself that it is a bench
the only one who will look at it closely is myself
and that, I will
so any imperfection will nag at me forever
in creating three sections
or rather two new sections and wedging in an ever dwindling core of the original
I've been able to manage the wind that plagues a multiple lamination
the end vise has been properly installed as is currently in heavy use
and making high marks for both of its intended purposes
each face presents a new challenge
a new work out
some more aches
a couple blisters, though those are by now few and far between
and a hell of a lot more glue than I would have imagined
and no you are not imagining; the front apron is not pounded home
I can still get a flat bar in to pop it free and the whole top comes apart
oh
just a funny thought...
all those years ago I bored the dog holes 4 and a half inches apart
guess what the optimum distance based on the travel of the end vise is...
