wedge

In all my time working in wood I have never actually tried a wedged through mortice and tenon joint before this point

my third wedge broke going in and I realized I should have done all the wedges in oak
lost another three along the way

there's a raw brutality to the freshly glued joint
and a really humble finish

stands on its own, good sign

time to cut down the legs

forgot to take a single photo making the wedges, really nothing you haven't already seen

What do you do with that really gnarly off-cut of poplar that can't be used on anything else?

Trimmed up the overhang

solid

and the whole reason I made this, a trip to woodworker mecca
Keim Lumber in the heart of Amish country
seriously the best selection of high quality wood, clearly labeled, priced, and sorted alphabetically. Each piece squarely cut on the ends and (no shit) sanded both sides

This is just one of the multiple aisles of lumber
I found the three slabs myself and an incredibly humble and helpful fellow lead me to the cut off pallet in one of the numerous other buildings for the 12/4

All at less that half what I would have paid here in the 216
I indulged in a modest and fulfilling lunch in the upstairs cafe overlooking the most glorious sight of every single item I've ever seen in a woodworking catalogue
except for the hand tools, never found those

climax

 a fortuitous temporal alignment

huge jobs
strenuous after eight hours of labor
weeks of tiny steps

tiny projects of a few minutes

stepping into the abyss
face first

the two pieces are finally joined

an exploration in detail

unspeakable thoughts seeing it the first time

it's a treasure hunt
each detail hints to the next
a roadmap of the struggle

each step reveals yet another wonder

for once I'm speechless