Framed up

Laminating the aprons. I do this because I like to have straight grain on my aprons, and so it's an efficient use of 8 qtr flat sawn material. The bookmatch is a bonus.

Lots of double mortise magic.

Layout for cutting the front legs to length. Set the tops co-planer and mark the bottom off the bench edge.

 Some angled round mortises for the stretchers.

 Cutting tapers on the front legs.

Paterns, templates, cauls and all kinds of cheat sheets.

Yes, there's days when the hand planing is challenging, and you think about busting out the palm sander. And indeed, there's a time and place for the palm sander. But yesterday was not one of those days. My dad's #3 Stanley Bailey was singing. I imagine it comes close to what a musician must feel when his finely tuned instrument is making music in his hands. I slipped into an elevated spirit animal trance, so here's pictures of all the frame members receiving treatment.

Ignition

The next milling session fired up. The foetal stages of a Spearhead desk, shorty version. I also want to explore a coffee table design. Here's an edge of a 10.5" wide 8 quarter being prepared for rough milling.

Relieving the big guy of his rift sawn material for the legs.

A Few Quick Snaps of the Installation

In the fray of tearing the place apart I didn't take before photos. but it was nasty.

There was a pane of lethal non-safety glass in this interior window, which I striped out and carefully and precariously removed with suction cups. Suction cups are the business. Thankfully the four ugly, near useless box store shutters are gone. Still need to fabricate a railing.

That's a 4' by 10' skylight. That's a lot of light. It made sense for the sliding shutter to frame the skylight.

Finishing up the Wall

After assembly the wall panels and sliding shutters receive some flush trimming.

Shooting these 1 7/8" thick rails on these massive panels was a bit of a wrestling match, but do-able. only just.

What the f.... Looks like a micro remnant of a staple or something buried on this one rail. did not see that. Gave my Lie Nielson jack a thorough rogering. of course this means it also went through my machines.

Perhaps you can make out the offending piece of debris.

All panels finally through soap finishing, ready for install. After Glue-ups begin, these things quickly become an overall logistical back breaker. The laminated panels are 3/4" thick. These suckers were surprisingly heavy. Absolute deadweights.