Completing the Base

My first task of the day was to inspect and package Karen’s bag handles. We should be able to mail them out on Monday; the personal check waiting period will be up by then.

Then I sanded and sealed 3 more pair of bag handles for Pamela. These were ordered from On-Hand stock, so I have to get them done as quickly as possible. In this case On-Hand means that I‘ve made the handles, but they are unfinished. These ones get a satin lacquer finish, so I was able to complete that during the day today and they too will be ready to ship out. Since they were paid for with a credit card, there is no waiting period. Once the transaction is accepted by the ACH (Automated Clearing House) it is guaranteed good.

Lunch time.

After lunch I got back to work on Gary’s cradles. I started by attaching the routing template I made last time to the under side of the cradle base plate with double stick tape. Had I made the template quite a bit larger; big enough to reach beyond the base of the router, I could have used clamps to hold it in place but I dislike using up materials in this manner. So I kept it compact and used the tape. The guide bushing in the router base guides the router along the perimeter of the template hole, the inner waste is just nibbled away by light passes back and forth and up and down. If I’m thorough there is little left in the bottom of the recess to have to sand smooth. I pop the template loose, remove the tape and sand the underside of the panel to 150.

Then I attach the rockers using 1¾” screws, plug the screw holes and sand the top of the plate to 150 grit. Finally I hand sand the edges of the plate then the cove using sand paper wrapped around a small dowel. Then I set these aside.

I scuffed Pamela’s handles and shot the second coat of lacquer, then got called away to go rescue Marie – she had a problem with the truck. So I borrowed Joy’s car and went to help.

When I got back it was time to clean the shop up and write up my daily notes. We have a standing engagement for Friday evening so there will be no after supper work session today. I will however be working tomorrow (Saturday) to make up for missing work yesterday while we went to meetings and made a supply run into Morristown.

See you then,

Doug