1.31.2022

Jim did some design work on the computer this morning and the rest of the day was drawer assembly!  Jim puts a drop of glue on each dove tail joint and then has to use his rubber mallet to fit them together perfectly...

More drawers assembled...

Now they are all assembled - and so pretty!

High 26/Low 3

1.30.2022

 Jim cut some pieces of Formica today for the drawer bottoms...

Cutting them to size...  It seems like every day you discover that another product is hard or impossible to find - now it's contact cement.  Neither Lowe's nor Home Depot carry it in the store or to order - weird.  Jim found that hopefully our little hardware store in town carries it, so we'll be checking that out.

Jim is finalizing the design of the corner cabinet in the kitchen - so very exciting!  He's starting to glue up pieces for the stiles for the side panels...

Then it was painting time - he got his air gun out to spray the drawer fronts...

The side pieces are all painted now...

Lots of pieces drying...

The finished drawer area - they are so pretty...

Of course, using the air gun means Jim has to spend a good hour cleaning the gun.

High 18/Low 2

1.29.2022

 Jim did sanding work this morning on the primed pieces in preparation for painting the actual color...

Can't tell durability at this point, but he's so far very happy with the new paint...

Pieces drying...

Doing final coat of polyurethane on some of the drawers...

Lots of pieces drying...

Time to get ready for church!

High 12/Low 0 - wind chill advisory

1.28.2022

 In the drawer factory today, Jim had to lightly sand all the primed drawer fronts...

Before painting, he cut the plywood he picked up at Lowe's last evening to make the rest of the bottom panels for the drawers...

Jim is starting to paint the Shaded Ice using the new Benjamin Moore Command paint that is supposed to be the same as the Sherwin Williams SnapDry we can't get now....

They sure look pretty!

Lots of pieces drying!

After cleaning up from that paint job, he moved on to sanding all of the polyurethaned pieces and then putting on another coat...

Finishing up the polyurethane for the day - doing the back panel...

After yet more clean up, Jim headed down to the auto bay to finish up the wiring.  This is the newly-wired control box on the car lift...

He got all the wiring done in the box for the car lift and the box all buttoned up.  Sure looks great and no more extension cord across the floor!

High 27/Low 4

1.27.2022

Another frigid morning - it was -13° when we woke up this morning! 

Doing a bit of millwork on the cabinet back so that the side panels fit in...

Starting to do more polyurethane...

Boxes drying...

Backs and drawer bottoms polyurethaned...

Drawer fronts all primed...

Jim is anxious to finish up the wiring project in the auto bay, so he got the wire all run...

Then started wiring up the car lift controls.  He got this part all finished and buttoned up - he just has to finish the wiring in the box.

He stopped work a bit early, got all the trash down to the street and then headed to Lowe's to pick up more polyurethane and plywood so he can finish the drawer bottoms.

High 20/Low 15

1.26.2022

 Jim hand sanded all the drawer pieces in preparation for their coat of primer...

Pieces drying...

He had to use both the planer and the drum sander to thin the plywood that he will use for the drawer bottoms...

Putting polyurethane on the drawer assemblies requires lots of taping of the dovetails so that they fit together perfectly when finished...

You can see the thinned plywood for the bottoms here - Jim has to go to Lowe's tomorrow to pick up some more plywood to finish...

Spraying the polyurethane...

Drawer assemblies drying...

High 18/Low -10

1.25.2022

 Gluing the rest of the drawer bodies together...

Drawer bodies all assembled!

Starting to do the blind dovetails on the front pieces...

Dovetails on fronts all done...

Last millwork step is rounding over all the edges...

Rounding over the finger pulls...

Later in the afternoon, Jim headed outside to do a little snowplowing.  We got about 2" of snow overnight and he just wants to keep the driveway in good shape.

Once back inside, he did a little electric work in the auto bay to finish out the day.

High 27/Low 3