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

work

Oh there are days

yesterday for example, no amount of self-inflicted personal growth counseling could force me to work in the shop
not to say I did nothing
just not in the shop

whereas today, I couldn’t step away
transfixed on the goal

it’s just steps away from assembly, the order preordained by its design, modules which must be assembled before smoothing and finishing

however, other components must be smoothed and finished before assembly

it’s always my least anticipated part of the process but the one which yields the greatest rewards

and I’m not going to go on with this tirade. you’ve read it countless times on your way to this post, finishing sucks

all fours sides are in place

mistake #300451: see if you can guess

all the stretchers joined

the elevators (what else do I call them) are chamfered and sanded

only the drawer components need to be fabricated and I’d be stupid to do that before the entire table is assembled and glued

I hate not being able to work on the drawer

like having cake with no icing

conversely, that will be dessert

confluence

Ah,

life

when you really feel like getting down and dirty

there’s always a boulder

there's always something waiting to trip, something waiting to devour, to suck away your time and money

April menaces from the future, lurking in the shadows of Saturdays wasted,

yup, taxes

nonetheless this is a magical time for me

always

that time between solstice and equinox

I’m home for three or four months
I live at the museum

and in my shop

in both I set challenges...
...no...
...mountains

this piece will be just as its predecessors

scary

I’ve got to raise an entire tabletop plus drawer and apron
at least three eighths of an inch atop a seriously strong base


and put my forty pound ficus on it
and a cat or two

oops, not gonna do, haunched tenon anyone?

the “struts” as they are now endowed need to support the weight and torque
of cat and plant

a scant scrap or two would work, a quick ninety degree grain reversal, had to find burl

luckily there’s a lot of those just laying around

that’s the end you cut off, silly!