What took us the better part of Sunday to complete, we knocked out in just over two hours. Liz and I were both very proud of ourselves, in that we really felt like we were learning from our previous sessions… and were feeling a little more confident about our motions and decisions.
For me, this part of the process was the most daunting. I was worried about screwing something up. After a few pilot holes though… I quickly became more comfortable about the process.
Our process was more or less this: we’d cut off about an inch off one end. Then we’d flip the board around, having measured the distance from the end stop to the saw blade. We double checked this quite often, but once we got things aligned… we more or less knew that any piece of wood placed against the stop would result in the desired length.
I’m not sure if this is due to the pressure treated lumber being new (sometimes it’s wet), or due to the wood being outside during yesterday’s snow/rain storm. Either way, some of these boards were sopping wet and were about 5x heavier than I expected them to be.
During her wait, Liz helped me out with sanding my desk top. I didn’t get all that far either (used the hand plane on both sides, and only got to sand the top ever so briefly).
Getting some clamps roughed in place. We were taught to set up the clamps first, prior to the gluing process… and to place them to one side. That way, we could quickly affix each clamp without wasting much time (and before the glue made things too difficult).
Liz and I had a nice conversation with Bob about our workshop, and the things we’re learning. A lot of what we talked about focused on learning the techniques/tools (as opposed to simply completing a task).
I have to confess: I had a hard time with the jointer. I could run my pieces through ok, but it was tough (seemed to be some sap) and I kept getting stuck. Additionally, I had a hard time knowing when I was “done.” Things seemed flat, but some of the pieces were warped/curved… and that added an extra layer of challenge.
Some weeks ago, Liz and I were talking about trying to return to our regular “date nights.” In the course of this discussion, we ended up finding a basic “Woodworking 101” class at Rebuilding Exchange – and ended up deciding to convert our plans to “practical date nights.”
Watching this, I got a similar sensation of awe as I did when watching Michelle Erickson working with clay. With skilled creators, their movements seem almost like dance-like. I imagine them performing the same motions, again and again, year after year.
Last weekend, Liz and I went down to hang out with the family over Labor Day. On arriving, I was happy to see the cabinet Bob and I had worked on, sitting in its new home on the front porch.
Last Sunday, I went down to Frankfort to hang out with Bob and to do a little woodworking. Or, to be more specific… I helped out while Bob did a little woodworking. It’s always fun to tackle projects with Bob, and while I may still not know a lot… my hope is to glean as much as I can, watching him go through his process.
Liz and I spent the day in Frankfort today. She was heading down there to meet up with her mom (the two of them are working on a sew-along winter coat project). I tagged along to just hang out for the day. Bob started on a project restoring an old cabinet. The back of the thing was in several panels,…
Early on Saturday morning I grabbed some coffee, hopped in the car, and headed for Frankfort. For a long time now I’ve talked with Bob about woodworking, and at several turns he extended an offer for me to help him do work on the house. I finally made it a point to set up a time, and decided to spend…