molasses

What follows is a visual essay

I've performed and recorded every one of these steps before

there's nothing new here

although eliminating the shooting board and just using my benchtop has been liberating

and I guess woking in pine has been new

everything goes twice as fast

everything

and everything unplaned comes out fuzzy

and it's prone to spelch

and dings

and pretty much just breathing too hard on one spot

and it's impossible to erase errant marks

and you really have to watch the end of your cut

and take it easy

but joinery is almost cheating in pine

my tolerance in maple

fits the first time in pine

pine makes me feel like a woodworking demigod

in an hour I can realize something that in maple might take days

sorry, my "days" is simply "minutes" to someone else

although I did rough then smooth the curves on the legs in under an hour

that was my Tuesday

 the dry fit is so tight I feel the need to caress some of the joinery and just give it all some breathing room

a decision on finish is yet to come, I have just begun to walk that path

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

toil

where do I begin to describe a week of work

dimensioning four pieces of hard maple

bench-sized pieces

it's one thing to flatten a board
take out the wind
make it an even thickness throughout
it's another entirely to mate it flawlessly to a second
now make all those faces add up to a bigger piece with no wind, warp or curl

are you confused yet?
I realize the images are not following the commentary
it's been a week
a lot's been done
many photos have been took
most of them boring

Monday
Tuesday
that's all a blur now

I keep thinking;
it's only five more boards
I can do a tool trough on the back quarter

then I get to planing

the majority of my week has been working through the planes

course
medium
smooth

the joinery is my rest period

 a time to think about details far in the future

just glad the band saw made it this far