4.30.2023

 Another day, another sanding job!

Both drawers sanded...

Rolling over the top edges...

Priming the drawer back edges...

This side primed and drying...

Kind of hard to get a good perspective on how big these drawers are but with me standing next to them, you can see a little easier!

Blocking glued for the seat back...

Jim made a template to make sure the angle for the lean to man door was perfect...

Starting to cut just a tad off...

More sanding...

Of course, sometimes household things take up Jim's time.  People who know me will be shocked to hear that I'm actually using our dishwasher now, after only ever using one when we had company or for holidays.  But this one doesn't use a heated dry cycle, so it's safe for my dishes and I really like it!  But today, it started showing flashing lights as an error code so Jim was doing some preliminary investigation.  There's nothing obvious and we can get it working again, so we'll see.

High 57.5/Low 44.6

4.29.2023

Jim continued doing millwork on the drawer pieces today.  I'm going to use part of one of the drawer for a file of my printed recipes, so Jim made provisions for steel hanging bars...

Always so very much sanding...

Using the press to precisely fit the back piece into the dovetail joints...

Beautiful!

It was an on/off drizzly day, so no outside work, but Jim did some organizing and searching for his blade attachment to the trimmer.  That should help with some of the tougher undergrowth in the woods...

Jim also did some car work - he's trying to find the location of the cabin air filter in the Mini.  Unfortunately, all the literature he has and can find online hasn't led him to it yet, even after taking apart one of the panels inside.  

Church time!

High 51/Low 43.2 - on/off drizzly

4.28.2023

Jim did more sanding today, rounding over the edges of the drawer fronts... 

He cut the grooves in the pieces for the drawer bottoms to slide into...

A bird keeps trying to build a nest in the lean to at the front on intersecting rafters - they aren't successful but haven't given up trying.  They make a big mess that Jim has to clean up every day.  He was scoping the rest of the lean to to make sure there wasn't a nest somewhere else but there is no sign of one.  Hopefully they'll give up soon and make a nest in one of the millions of trees on the property instead!

Speaking of trees, it was another beautiful day.  With rain scheduled over the next couple days, we decided to head outside and do some more cleanup...

This is one of the original stone walls on the property that was knocked over by the years and when the property was partially timbered before we bought it.  We eventually want to build this back up - we've started at the upper end.  There are trees growing around it that Jim is cleaning out...

High 66/Low 34.4

4.27.2023

 Mom and I headed out this morning to do some grocery errands.  Jim was busy in the shop - doing some more dovetailing below...

It was another beautiful day again so we spent time cleaning up in the woods this afternoon.  Can you spot Jim cutting down some little trees among the pines?

We have lots more chipping piles but the woods are looking great!

Jim is going to be doing some preventative maintenance work on my car in the future.  He bought a new cabin air filter for it.  That required taking out the glove box...

Old vs new...

High 59.3/Low 35.4

4.26.2023

 Jim continued doing woodworking this morning...

He also took the lean to man door out for a trial fit - he has a little adjustment to make to perfect the fit.

It was a nice afternoon so we all headed outside.  We did some cleanup around the stone wall...

Some of these beech trees were growing almost into the pines, so Jim cut a few down...

High 59.7/Low 29.9

4.25.2023

 Jim worked on the computer this morning and then did some more gluing and work in the shop.  He also got the other side of the man door primed...

When you get cool new drill bit storage cases for your birthday, you need to buy new drill bits - ha!

High 52.9/Low 33.9

4.24.2023

 Doing more dovetailing work...

Lots of complicated gluing projects in the works...

Jim is adding some additional blocking support on the bench seat frame for the seat cushion assembly...

Starting to prime the lean to man door...

This side primed and drying...

A coat of paint on the other side of the door hinges...

To finish out his day before getting on the treadmill, Jim is sorting his drill bits.  Kyle bought him a cool storage system for his birthday so he's using his new magnifying lamp to read the sizes on the bits and then getting them sorted...

High 49/Low 39.2 - light rain late afternoon

4.23.2023

 It was a much needed all-day rainy day today - glad we had some outdoor time yesterday.

Unfortunately, the Cavs playoff game started at 1:00 this afternoon so we watched that on/off until they were losing too much to watch any more.  That was sad after such a good season.  Hopefully they'll play better in Cleveland - or it's over.

In the shop, Jim had to set up his dovetailer on the ShopSmith with special jigs and clamps to hold it in place because these drawer sides are so long...

Making great progress on this job...

He sanded the old door hinges from our first house in Ohio to reuse on the pole barn lean-to man door...

A coat of paint on the first side...

High 51.3/Low 42.7 - rainy