lost and found

I have built nothing in the shop

I've sharpened irons
oiled blades
lubed my screws
straightened spades

oh crap

this is creative death by toddler

we read a lot of Seuss

I have created a few things not worthy of a post

a castle for our adoptee

a few new mounts for the museum

and then I am trying to turn this around
my daughter is going to need a workstation, kid sized but with room to grow
rounded corners so she doesn't damage that brain we are so carfully cultivating
cherry starts off a lovely pastel so it'll be a tad Hello Kitty for the first couple years
over time it will become rich and deep
a perfect pairing with bird's eye maple

maybe I could design the perfect balance of work surface and storage
and do some creative rounding to have more fun with the joinery
and maybe I'll just take a portion of that and make an end table
and then I forget where I left off

and we read more Seuss

frozen

in these depths of winter freeze
the lure of a cozy faux-leather office chair
adjacent to a free blowing hot air vent
is nearly impossible to overcome
 

but I do get my moments

while finishing up a few details the lumber I needed finally was had

I still needed a board jack to support the  big slabs

basically, a stick with holes with another stick stuck through

combined with the crochette, and now very ample leg vise

I can finally do this safely and efficiently

once one edge is flat the cut can be marked with a panel gauge
and ripped

each 70 inch length is trued on the top edge
a careful eye for wind and bow
and at least flat on the bottom

one face is brought square to the true edge
then carefully flattened completely

from there it is a simple job of marking the opposite face
and planing it to the line
re-square the edges if necessary 

I'm going to leave each slab in this state and move on to the next
I'm sure they will keep moving throughout the winter
and will need to be adjusted before gluing is possible again in the spring

this was a one time run tool I purchased over the summer
it finally arrived last week
used in conjunction with the Veritas sharpening jig it sure makes setting up simple

advance

Hey, look at that,  we actually have SNOW!
It's been two months since our last white-out, the least amount I've seen in my life
my yard has thawed and drained, this should really be March.
You don't want to know what's coming up next
I've actually been gardening in February, so my attention has been drawn.
That and a good dose of genealogy

I hesitated on this design for a while, didn't really know if this was the direction I wanted to take

But as fate and time conspire, I, of course, will come up with something

In less than a day and a half, a sixteen by sixteen slab has been dimensioned, jointed, glued, dimensioned again and smoothed six sides. 

 

Guess I've been practicing.

have to say, though, after a few months without, this really hurts the next day

I knew there was a reason I made that chute board so big!

Have you seen the price of wood these days?

Trying to decide to break my vow of non-power tool use here, this is big thick walnut, and very tight grain near the feet (specifically why I chose this piece) it will take days to do this with the Bow Saw, or but a few minutes with the band...

Question remains, how fast do I want this to go...
how long do I want this to take...
?