Saturday – Catching Up

Normally I reserve Saturdays as a day for working in the yard or on the house, but because I’ve spent so much time in the past two weeks on extra-curricular activities, I need to do a little catching up today. The yard will have to wait another week.

I started off the day by doing what I meant to get to yesterday and didn’t; installing the base molding on Blake & Marilyn’s curio cabinet. This took quite a bit longer than I anticipated because it required using my longest clamps, and I’d get one end in position, with a clamp pad under the jaw, go to the other end to position it, and the first end would slip out of alignment. I needed a clone today. But through the use of some spring clamps to help corral the far ends, I got the three base molding pieces glued and clamped in position.

Then it was back to bag handles. I finished up Deborah’s cherry handles that I started yesterday, and stained a pair of poplar handles for Phyllis, whose order came in this morning. They both need to sit over night. Debora’s order should be ready to ship Monday morning. Phyllis requested polyurethane finish, so it will be a couple more days on hers. Not counting Sunday… we don’t work Sunday.

See you Monday!

Doug

Friday – Multi-Tasking

Today I need to accomplish a number of things. In addition to working on Blake & Marilyn’s curio I need to make some cherry bag handles and get a wall hung stopper rack started. Since some of this work will need to be done on the band saw, which is still out in the old show – now a lumber shed, and it’s going to get hot out there this afternoon I’ll start with those tasks this morning while it’s cool.

Bag handles are one of those items that we can make from cut-offs left over from other projects, especially when we are making a small batch of handles. Here we have a collection of board ends that are ideally suited to this project.

Making handles in small batches also allows me to make the handles as matched pairs. By resawing the thick board into two thin boards, then keeping the aligned and sequenced, the handles will come out with their grain and coloring perfectly matching. This is exceptionally difficult to do when making a large batch of several hundred handles.

For detailed notes on how bag handles are made see the article posted in the In The Shop section of our web site: http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Bag_Handles/index.php
I got two pair of maple and 5 pair of cherry handles made up. I already had some walnut, so I used one of those and a pair of these cherry handles to make up Caroline’s order. The rest of what I made are set aside, unfinished, so that you good folks may order them with any finish you like. Caroline’s walnut handles got a lacquer finish, which goes on quickly, so they are done. They cherry handles get a hand rubbed oil finish; they will take at least two days to complete.

Then I moved on to Deborah’s stopper rack. I got the parts blanks milled out from rough lumber, and made the parts needed, but did not get the final shaping or assembly done.

It’s Friday and my wife and I have a standing date for Friday evening, so I can’t work late today. I may pop in tomorrow; it’s supposed to rain and that will preclude doing any yard work.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Doug

Thursday – Fixed Shelf Tray

I had a few computer maintenance chores and a web site update to handle this morning, but these didn’t take long. Then I got going on installing the wooden tray that supports the fixed center glass shelf. I used the molding strips I milled out previously and cut the mitered corners then carefully placed the pieces into the casework. The front and back pieces are glued to the front and back center rails, but the ends are “free flying” as the only case parts they could attach to would be the doors – and we can’t do that or the doors wouldn’t open! I reinforced the mitered corner joints with 2” long finish nails driven in from the ends.

I also mounted the doors, installed (temporarily) the door locks and tested the fit and operation of the doors and locks. The humidity changes are causing the wood to move a bit, but I don’t think it’s anything that will be a problem once we get the glass installed.

I finished up the day by milling out boards for the baseboard pieces, routing an ogee on the upper edge and mitering the corners. Then I laid out the fancy cut-out shape on the lower edge of the front baseboard, cut that out and sanded it smooth. Sanding in the scrolls was done with pieces of sand paper stuck to a 1” diameter dowel with carpet tape.

The base boards are not yet attached, I need to cut out an opening in the skirt of the cabinet behind the baseboard scrolls. I’ll get to that tomorrow. I’ll also need to work on a couple of small projects that have come up. But we’ll get to those in tomorrow’s episode.

Till then,

Doug

Wednesday – Seal & Stack Lumber

This morning I had some errands to run, so I got a late start on things, then I had a bid that needed to get finished up, then I had this pile of about 400 board feet of freshly milled red oak lumber that arrived yesterday and is sitting in the floor in the lumber shed.

To turn freshly milled (aka green) lumber into seasoned hardwood suitable for use in furniture making, it can not sit in a pile like this for very long. The ends of the boards must be sealed to prevent the very porous end of the boards from giving up their inner moisture and shrinking faster than the rest of the board. This uneven shrinking is what causes a board to start splitting at the ends. Seal the end grain to slow the moisture evaporation and the whole board dries, and shrinks, evenly. Also, green lumber will want to cup, twist, bow, and warp – if you let it – as it dries. Again, this is often a result of uneven drying.

To reduce these tendencies we “sticker stack” the lumber in piles, held off the ground, with narrow boards between each layer of lumber and spaces between each board in the layer. This way air is allowed to flow freely around all sides of all boards, so they dry evenly. And the weight exerted on the boards by the boards above them keep them flat as they dry.

As I go through a pile of new lumber, sealing the ends and stacking the boards, I cull out the lower quality boards to be placed in the very top layers of the pile. Cap boards and cement blocks are placed on top of these, but if they prove insufficient weight to prevent all cupping, ant least they were the least valuable boards on the stack.

This pile is now just about as high as I am tall, so I shall be putting no more lumber on this pile. We have 3' & 4" thick Holly on the bottom, some ash above that then the new red oak in the nice neat upper tw-thirds of the pile. This pile will be left alone to sit for at least a year so the wood can season. This was all very pretty wood, it should yield some excellent lumber.

It took me six hours to accomplish this – partly because the red oak had been cut with a band mill and was encrusted to a layer of saw dust that I needed to brush off before stacking it – my back and shoulders are aching and I’m drenched with sweat. This freshly sawn oak has a lot of water in it and it's HEAVY. It’s a bit early, but I’m going home to take a shower and rest a bit before Marie and I have to go into town for a couple of meetings.

Blake, Marilyn, I’ll be back to work on your curio tomorrow.

See you then,

Doug

Tuesday – Case Assembly

I got started on Blake & Marilyn’s curio nice and early this morning because there were absolutely no e-mails or phone calls to handle when I came in. That’s a first.

So I started by doing the rough sanding on the front panel and upper and lower side rails. Then I was ready to begin permanent assembly; screws and GLUE. No turning back now. I started by attaching the lower end rails to the rear panel. That created a tall ‘L’ shape that will stand up on its own. Then I attached the two inside floor supports to the back panel. I’m not messing with the front panel yet because trying to balance both the front panel and back panel while I align and install the side rails is too much for me working alone. And because there is only 10” of inside depth between the front panel and back panel; not enough to use an electric drill to drive the pocket hole screws. By leaving the front off for now, I have plenty of room to work with these screws.

I also attached the leveler blocks in each rear corner with glue and screws. Naturally I made sure the side rails were square to the back panel. This assembly needed to sit for a while to let the glue tack up good so nothing would shift when I took the clamps off.

While I waited for this, Tommy showed up with over 400 board feet of freshly milled red oak. Some VERY pretty lumber; clear and straight grained. It came from a huge tree. We unloaded it onto bed logs in the lumber shed. I’ll deal with it tomorrow; today I’m working for Blake & Marilyn.

When the back assembly was ready I moved the front panel into position, removed the clamps, applied the glue and clamped the front panel to the lower side rails. The screws went in by hand at first but because of the high humidity today (60% chance of rain) my arthritic knuckles are stinging me pretty badly so I tried our new mini cordless screw driver. By waxing the screws to reduce friction, it the job.

The next task was to install the upper side rails, which went in easily. Then the middle ceiling supports; which were a little trickier because it’s difficult to see the lay-out lines, line the part up with the marks both front and back and hold them there while tightening a clamp – while standing on a step ladder. But I got them. While the pipe clamps held the supports in place I installed the screws then removed the clamps.

Then I turned my attention to milling and installing the cleats that run around the perimeter between other supports for the ceiling and floor panels. For the ceiling cleats I was able to use large spring clamps to hold the cleats in place while the glue tacked up, but because the lower rails are much deeper, spring clamps would not reach and I dug out my hand screw clamps. These relics are very handy things to have!

And there we have it: the basic case is assembled. Tomorrow I’ll mount the doors and install the center shelf tray. Then we can begin milling out the frilly bits to go on the outside.

See you tomorrow.
Doug

Monday – Retainer Screws

OK, wacky week is over for another year and it’s back to work as usual in the Smoky Mountain Woodworks workshop.

Being Monday, I spent the morning doing bookwork.

The afternoon was spent drilling countersunk pilot holes in the glass retainer strips and inserting 132 brass screws to secure the strips in place.

Why so many? Because the glass panels that these strips will hold in place are large and heavy and I don’t want these strips letting go and allowing the glass to fall out. If this were for a local delivery I wouldn’t be so obsessive, but since it will be bouncing along in a semi as it travels to Rhode Island, I want to be sure nothing pops loose.

That’s it for today, see you tomorrow.

Doug

Tuesday - Troubleshooting

I started off this morning with removing the clamps from the front & back panels of Blake & Marilyn's curio and doing a little rough sanding, preparing to start the first course of construction sanding. Then the phone rang, and I made the mistake of answering it. I have to do that now since we have a phone in the workshop and promise folks that it will get answered if they let it ring long enough. You don’t want to know all that ensued, just let it suffice to say that I’ve spent most of the day solving problems I hadn’t counted on having to solve. Most have been resolved. I’m waiting on a couple to see if “the patch will hold”. Doug

Month End Monday

This week is going to be outright madness, and I may not get a whole lot done – woodworking wise. I will be *very* busy, but just not in woodworking.

As is usual, Monday mornings are spent doing bookkeeping and preparing checks and financial reports for the boss. But this Monday I’m not only doing week-end books, but month-end AND quarter-end books. And to top that, we’re moving the web site to a new host, so there are testing procedures and e-mail accounts to set up, the domain must be re-pointed… lots to do.

We are also in the middle of a construction project within the workshop that I have been dabbling with in the evenings after the regular work day. But, the construction materials are seriously getting in the way and the half-finished floor is a safety hazard. It’s time to just get the thing done and clear away the debris.

So, I spent most of the day crunching numbers, printing reports and doing web site stuff… often all at the same time; if a report will take some time to print, go on-line and work. If files will take to time to upload, make out some checks. But never just sit and watch the computer work!

By mid-afternoon that was all done and I was able to turn my attention to completing the tool room floor. For those who have not been following along, we are renovating a large mobile home into more workshop space. The area designated to be the tool room, or Parts Creation Area as it says on the floor plan, used to be the living room, kitchen and dining room. This was all one big open area except that the living room floor was 6” lower than the rest. This was a nice feature as a home but is a serious safety hazard in a workshop, so I needed to raise that area to match the rest by laying in 2x6 joists and bridging decked over with plywood. This isn’t very pretty, but it’s sturdy. I will (eventually) use a tinted polyurethane finish to color the plywood more like the hardwood in the kitchen/dining area and help prevent dirt and debris from becoming lodged in the plywood surface.

Also this week is the 4th of July. Being a holiday wouldn’t normally mean much as we often work on holidays, but because Marie volunteered up to help with the County’s “Home Town Celebration” on the 4th, we will be down at the fairgrounds all day.

Then on Friday and Saturday will be the Treasures of Appalachia “Red, White & Bluegrass” show. Since I am President of Treasures Of Appalachia Inc., I kind of have to be there.

I *will* work in as much construction on Blake & Marilyn’s curio as I can in between all these activities, I promise.

Doug

Thursday – Casework Frilly Bits

I busied myself today with making all the little frilly bits that will go inside the curio case. These included finishing up fitting the glass retainer strips in the front and back panels and the doors. These have mitered corners at the upper and lower corners of the pieces and butt joints where the retainers fit to the center rail. The final step will be to drill and countersink these strips for a couple hundred small, brass, flat head wood screws.

Once these were all in and held in place with my trusty painters tape, I milled out the neat little pieces that will support the fixed glass shelf. Now, working with thin, narrow pieces of wood at the router table is a great recipe for getting your fingers chewed up. To avoid this I mill the profile I need into both edges of a board wide enough to handle safely, then take it to the table saw and rip the completed moldings loose from the board. Tada! Nice moldings with no dips from the piece rolling over into the router bit and… no blood stains.

The final task for today was to use this same technique to produce some door-stop moldings: only ¼” square with one corner rounded over. Very tricky to do any other way.

My weird sized Forstner bit arrived on this afternoon’s UPS truck, so I can bore the door stiles for the locks tomorrow.

See you then,

Doug

Address Change Notice

Greetings! We have moved the In The Shop blog to an in-house server. You may continue following our adventures by [Clicking Here]. Why have we taken this step? Primarily because the page load times here at blogger are getting longer and longer. While it *could* be blamed on our pokey dial-up internet connection, that's not really the case, for I spend a lot of time with the modem idle and a message on the browser saying "Waiting for http://www2.blogger.com/yaddayaddayadda". I suppose that's the price to pay for using a very popular site. So, we've gone in-house. What's the old addage about restaurants: "Oh, no one ever goes there anymore; it's too busy." These articles will stay here as an archive file for as long as Blogger will allow them to stay, and the Doug-Bob blog will continue to post to Blogger... at least for now. Thanks for dropping in!

Wednesday - More Little Jobs

Today I completed the finishing on Judy's back-ordered bag handes and pulled the maple I'll need for John's stopper rack and tile frame. I also worked a good deal on the entertainment center design for Marie. I got to where I needed some feedback from her on details, so I turned my attention to bookkeeping for the late part of the afternoon. John wants a stopper rack that is 5 tiers high and has space for 7 stopper on each tier, and he wants it all made of maple but with the body stained Classic Cherry. I've worked out the math and the lay-out design for these design modifications. The maple needs to have a few days to acclimate to the workshop environment before we start cutting into it. The entertainment center is going to be a hair-puller; it's a built-in. Normally I don't do built-ins because that really requires that I be able to get very precise measurements of the space and install pieces as they are built. A little difficult to do when I'm in Tennessee and my client is in California, or Florida, or New York. But this gal is local, so it can be done. The last time we tried this was for Rev. Calvin's "Pastor's Study"; two huge bookcases with a large computer desk between them that spanned the entire end of a room and had a large window over the desk. It turned out well, everything fit -- although I was worried for a bit about one part. The biggest problem with built-ins is that builders rarely build houses with walls that are straight and square to one another. Professional cabinet makers have ways of compensating for these errors, but I'm not a cabinetmaker and never have been . The "cabinets" I make are all free-standing, not hung on a wall. There are major differences between the two styles. I don't know the cabinet makers tricks but I'm learning a few of my own to help compensate for the inaccuracies of house builders. These things keep life interesting. Doug-Bob

Tuesday – Bag Handles

Before I launch into the next big project I’m going to get a couple of the small things out of the way – since we do have some slack in the production schedule for a change.

What I’m planning for today is to get at least one pair of cherry bag handles made to complete Judy’s order. Her walnut handles were “on-hand” and have been shipped, but the cherry ones have to be made up. If I can get a pair or two extra done while I’m at it, so much the better.

Had I received this order a few days earlier I could have included them in the handle run Brian and I just did (50 pair in walnut) – Brian put the final coat of finish on them yesterday so they should be ready to ship out today – if Ros’ payment shows up. But it didn’t come in until after the other run was underway, so we’ll do them as a “one-off” order. I will, however, include some cherry handles in the next batch.

There is still indecision as to the design of the Futon Sofa for Dolly, so that order will get skipped for now, and we’ll proceed with the walnut entertainment center for Marie.

To start that I need to draw up a formal design; since this is a completely custom piece. I’ll start on that after making Judy’s handles.

I got two pair of cherry handles made and the first coat of oil on. They have to cure overnight and another coat applied tomorrow morning.

Doug-Bob

Monday – Playing Hooky

Since we are a few days ahead of the production schedule, I have an opportunity to dip into the Honey Do jar and get something done around the house. My assignment for today: paint the kitchen.

I got that done, but it will need a second coat to look its best.

Doug-Bob

Friday – Finishing

Today is the big day – in more ways than one. First, this is the day we finish sand and shoot Edmond’s table with lacquer. But it’s also the day we close on our mortgage that will allow us to acquire a larger workshop. So we have lots to celebrate.

Finish sanding is always done by hand and under a bright light here, it gives us the chance to scrutinize the piece as we work it over, we’ll catch the little things that were difficult to see while building it and fix them before they spoil the finish we’re about to apply.

After hand sanding with 150 grit non-loading paper, we vacuum it and tack rag it to remove all sanding dust. Then we break out the lacquer and our HVLP sprayer and apply one good coat. Lacquer will – most times – be ready to sand in a half hour instead of eight hours as most oil based finishes require. So we can scuff sand it, re-coat, scuff it again and apply a third coat all in one day. I will be able to get the skim-coat of polyurethane (applied only to the tray top to protect it from modern living) applied before closing up for the night. That will give it plenty of time to cure out.
Then I can package it up Monday morning and it will be ready to go out on Monday’s UPS truck.
I like Edmond’s choice of woods; the walnut and cherry look good together. Hope you enjoy it Edmond!

Doug-Bob

Thursday – Leg Set

I spent the morning making the parts for the leg set and assembling them. This process starts out with my set of templates. Some are just thin pieces of plywood cut to shape with screw hole locations (and other openings) laid out on them. Some, like the template for the legs, are far more complex and I wonder if anyone who has not used them before would be able to make sense of them. They are essentially a list of reminders and all the critical screw hole locations.

Then the shaping begins. We use the band saw, drill press, router table, and stationary belt sander to shape the blanks we milled out yesterday and to drill counter-bored screw holes and pilot holes for the screws that will hold the table together and act as pivot points.

I pre-finish areas that will be difficult to get finish to after the legs are assembled and put it all together with glue and screws.

After lunch I take the table top we made yesterday out of the band clamp and use the router table to round over the edges of the rails and do a construction sanding on it. This uses 100 grit paper and is intended to remove rough spots, ridges and saw marks. We’ll finish sand later.

Now I test fit the leg set and latch block to the under side of the tray table. No glue yet. Does everything fit as it should? Does everything move as it should? Does the latch block snap through the opening in the upper spreader? If not, now is the time to make adjustments.

When I’m satisfied that all is well, I glue the leg mount blocks in place and glue the latch block assembly in place and clamp it all together snugly. Now it has to sit for a while to let the glue bond up good and tight.

It’s a little early to quit, but I do have an order I took by phone to process and some chores in the office to take care of, so this is as good a time to take care of that as any.


See you tomorrow.

Doug-Bob

Wednesday – Tray Top

This morning I started off by working up a bid that was requested a couple of days ago. Then I headed for the shop to trim the cherry panel we made yesterday for Edmond's Heavy Duty Tray Table to finished size, cut a backer board to mount it to and mounted it. Then I milled out the walnut rails that go around the top, grooved them and mitered them to length.

After dry fitting them to be sure they fit properly, I applied glue inside the rail grooves and bonded them to the backer board of the tray panel – NOT to the cherry panel. This needs to be free to expand and contract with humidity. A band clamp holds everything tightly together overnight.

I finished out the afternoon by roughing out the blanks needed for the leg assembly and trimming them to size.

I have to knock off a bit early this afternoon to attend a meeting. Tomorrow we’ll make the parts for the rest of the table.

See you then!

Doug-Bob

Tuesday – Deja Vu

Yestarday (Monday) we suffered a computer conundrum. It was one of those things taht happens to everyone who uses a computer long enough. I managed to get it straightened out, but it took most of the day. It probably would have taken someone more knowleagable about 15 minutes. In the end, the only real damage we suffered was the loss of a whole bunch of e-mail messages. Distressing, but not the end of the world.

Today’s task seemed mighty familiar somehow... maybe because we’re making another tray table. This morning I had to take the truck and make a propane run and take care of some errands that have been needing to be done. This afternoon I cross cut some figured cherry planed it down and ripped it into ribbon stock on the band saw.

Then I edge glued the ribbons into half panels. When the glue was set up enough to get away with it, I surface planed the half-panels, jointed the center edges and glued them into a full panel.

This I’ll let set in clamps overnight.

See you then!

Doug-Bob

Weekend – Packing It Up

Over the course of the weekend I got Carols tray tables packaged up and ready to ship out on Monday.

The process starts with a trip up a ladder into the loft above the workshop where we store packaging materials; boxes of all sizes, bubble wrap, packing paper, sheets of Styrofoam and panels of crate board. Here we have some sheets of crate board atop my 4 foot by 8 foot sheets of Styrofoam. I won’t be needing the crate board this time, but I do need the Styrofoam. Why is it that whatever I need is always on the bottom? I do have plans to build a rack for this stuff so that I can get both products out when needed. But that’s one of those “when I have some spare time” projects. So for now I pull down all the crate board and snag a sheet of stryro.

I used to buy this stuff from a Pack & Ship outlet in Morristown until I discovered that the local lumberyard has a very similar product for half the cost. They call it “whiteboard” and it’s used for insulating buildings. This version is just a tad more brittle that the packaging foam, so I have to handle large sheets more carefully, but it works just as well for my purposes.

It takes half of a 4x8 foot sheet (plus some scraps) to package a set of tray tables. Normally I have to cut a full sheet in half using a utility knife, but this time I found a half-sheet up there ready to be used. So I put my dedicated Styrofoam blade on the table saw (the plastic foam melts a little as it’s being cut with a circular saw, gumming up the blade so I don’t use my woodworking blades for this) I cut the panel into 2 24”x36” pieces and 2 11”x24” pieces. The rest is cut up into small pieces as needed with a knife.

Then it’s back up the ladder to retrieve a box. We have these boxes custom made by a box factory in Morristown specifically for use with these tray table sets, since we sell so many of them. The box is just *barely* within the limits of UPS guidelines for an OS2 package, and gives us just enough space to securely package the tables. The boxes come folded flat and stacked 100 to a pallet, which we then have to restack in the loft. So I pull one out, fold it into a box and tape the bottom closed.

After laying a pad on the table saw, which serves as my workbench as well right now, I begin the process of packaging up the tables; blocks of foam keep the tables from damaging one another or the stand during shipment. Wrappings of stretch wrap hold everything together. Some places are reinforced with packaging tape, but only over the stretch wrap. Tape never touches the wood. Then the pairs of trays are placed in the stand and the whole bundle tied together with more stretch wrap and packaging tape.

The big box is lined with styro panels; bottom and both ends. The tables are laid in place – they just barely fit; we designed the box that way – the spaces on the sides are filled with crumpled or shredded paper, then another sheet of styro goes on top before the box is closed up and taped securely.

”FRAGILE” stickers are put on each side and the top and the box is weighed. The weight doesn’t really mean anything here because OS2 packages are billed on a “dimensional weight” scale rather than by their actual weight unless the package exceeds the dimensional weight. These hickory tables are considerably heavier than most: 39 pounds where most sets weigh 8 to 10 pounds less. Dimensional weight on OS2 packages is 70 pounds, so we still don’t come close to exceeding that. But the UPS on-line shipping utility requires that a weight be input or it won't process the label.

And that’s it, we’re done! The package goes out on the dock for Willis to pick up with his big brown truck and in a few days these tables will be gracing the home of Tim & Carol. We hope they’ll enjoy them.

We also hope they’ll take the trouble to log into the SMW website and offer a Product Review on these tables so others will know what they thought of our work.

Now it’s time to clean up the shop, put all the packaging stuff back away so we can get started on Ed’s custom HD Tray Table on Monday.

See you then!

Doug-Bob

Friday – Shooting Lacquer

What a beautiful day for shooting lacquer. It was pretty chilly this morning, so I went back to milling out walnut billets for bag handles, but after lunch – once the sun came over the mountain – it was warming up nicely. A clear blue sky, just a bit of a breeze, and 60°. Perfect!

So, I put away all the tools and vacuumed the shop thoroughly to get rid of the sawdust and wood chips. Then vacuumed Carols tables, tack ragged them and set up the HVLP sprayer.

It takes about 30 minutes to shoot one coat on all 5 pieces, then I have to let the finish harden up for 45 minutes to an hour, scuff sand and shoot another coat. Three coats usually does it. When that’s dry I apply a skim-coat (very thin layer) of tung-oil polyurethane to just the tops of the tray panels. This helps protect the finish from spills and sweaty glasses that would leave white rings in the lacquer.

The poly needs to catalyze for at eight hours, then they’ll be ready to package and ship out. I may get that done tomorrow – though we don’t usually work on Saturday -- I’m a little behind schedule because of extracurricular activities, I need to make up that time.


Doug-Bob

Thursday – Finish Sanding

I spent all morning finish sanding Carols tray table set. This we always do by hand, no power equipment because it gives us a good opportunity to scrutinize everything. I look for blemishes that need fixing, anything that doesn’t fit exactly right, etc. We set each table and the stand up on the table saw – which is our only guaranteed perfectly flat surface – to see that they set level; all four feet touching.

Normally I would then vacuum and tack ragged them then set up to shoot the lacquer. But today it is pouring rain. Way too humid for lacquer. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler but dry, so I’ll shoot them tomorrow.

Instead I spent most of the afternoon resawing and surface planning walnut lumber for Ros’ bag handle order. I pulled out what I thought I would need but by the time I cut out the gnarly bits I didn’t have quite enough for 50 pair, so will have to put in another session tomorrow or Saturday.

I was forced to take a break this afternoon when it was pointed out to me that the horrendous winds we were having today had torn up some of the tin siding on one corner of our new building. NOT GOOD!! So I had to go fix that. Thankfully, it stopped raining long enough for me to do this, then started up again just as I was done.

See you tomorrow.

Doug-Bob