1.24.2022

 

Today is National Peanut Butter Day - did you celebrate by eating peanut butter today?  Smooth or crunchy?  We don't need a holiday to eat peanut butter around here - we all eat it daily!  

Jim continued working on drawer parts - doing some planing...

He started the intricate dovetail work - doing this back corner first...

The drawer master at work doing the dovetail cuts...

Wow - check out all the dovetail progress on these drawers!

This is the first drawer assembly that is glued together...

High 19/Low 12

1.23.2022

 Back in the drawer factory, Jim was doing more millwork...

Gluing up more scraps for back pieces...

Doing some resawing on the band mill...

Drawer parts and pieces keep stacking up...

Doing some planing...

Jim got his dove tail equipment out - took him awhile to set up the router to the precise measurements...

Starting to dove tail...

Working on one corner assembly at a time because the set up is different for every one...

High 24/Low 1

1.22.2022

This was the temperature this morning - we have never seen it that cold here!  And we've had so many below zero days with more to come.  Downright scary, scary cold - and more to come this week.

But inside the warm shop, Jim was still busy in the drawer factory - doing some planing...

He basically has all the drawer sides sized...

More gluing...

He glued up scraps to make the backs of drawers...

Doing more millwork...

High 16/Low 6

1.21.2022

Another frigid start to the day - it was -15 when we woke up!  Much lower than they had forecast but at that point, cold is cold! Another way below zero night is forecast for tonight as well.

Jim continued to work on drawer parts today - lots of planing...

Kind of a representation of how to make a drawer!  Jim was explaining things to my mom - so from the right to the left - thick maple stock just lightly planed, next stack is resawn pieces, those resawn pieces planed, all the drawer fronts with millwork done, then a drawer kind of taking shape.  He'll be working on dovetailing in the coming days as well.  Mom said it was a ton of work to make drawers and it sure is!

Getting the bow out of the drawer side stock...

Gluing up more wood...

Doing glide placement markings on the other side cabinet piece...

High 11/Low -9

1.20.2022

Jim and I headed our separate ways this morning - Mom and I went out to do grocery pickups as well as stop at the Town Hall to pay property taxes, and then also to pick up some new paint.  Sherwin Williams hasn't had the SnapDry paint in stock for months and months so we are trying a new paint from Benjamin Moore that is supposed to have the same low blocking properties.  Meanwhile, Jim headed north to Lake George for a visit to Northern Hardwoods.  He bought 25 board feet of soft maple...

As you can see from the blue sky, it was a gorgeous day to be out and about in Upstate New York!  We got home about the same time and I did door duty for Jim to bring in the wood...

In the shop, he continued doing the millwork on the drawer fronts...

He did some light planing of some of the new wood...

Measuring the wood - he bought all the 4 quarter wood they had available so there is less waste...

Doing some resawing on the band saw so that he can split the wood and make two drawer sides...

He glued up more wood for drawer parts...

With the sun out in full force, we lost all of the snow from the roof.  Unfortunately, it fell right in front of the garage door in the late afternoon when I needed to go to the post office.  Jim (aka best husband ever) had to get the Bobcat out and clear it out so we could get out.  He headed out at the end of the day to get more diesel fuel for the machines.

We are under a wind chill advisory this evening through the morning with windchills expected to be as low as 15 to 30 below zero - our actual temperature is supposed to go to -6 tonight!

High 24/Low -6

1.19.2022

Jim has to spend time in the mornings doing design work on the computer but then he heads down to the shop to make all those designs come to life!  Doing measurements for final sizing on the big drawer fronts...

Using the bandsaw to do the rough cuts for the finger pulls on the drawer fronts...

Small drawers done for the first cut...

Then he uses the ShopSmith to sand the finger pulls...

The top is the before - the rest are after sanding...

Then he started doing all the millwork on the drawer fronts, cutting in the grooves for the bottoms to fit as well as the sides...

Before stopping to hit the treadmill, he put a coat of shaded ice on the other side of the cabinet pieces.  It will be assembly time before long!

Pieces drying...

High 34/Low 23

1.18.2022

Jim has drawer glides on order so he started measuring and marking locations of the drawers on the side panels so he can be ready for those...

Using the jointer to size pieces...

He has all six small drawer fronts sized as well as the two larger drawer fronts...

Painting shaded ice on the bottom piece...

Pieces drying...

Jim finally had some time to get back to working on the wiring in the auto bay.  We picked up some parts he ordered at Lowe's last week.  He used flexible conduit to go from a small box down to the car lift.  He just needs to wire it up now and it will be done - plus it looks really great!

Jim also went outside and went over the driveway with the snowblower.  We are supposed to get a tad warmer tomorrow before heading to the deep freeze, so he wanted to make sure things were in optimal condition.  Mom and I went out to the post office and had no issues.  Mom was also amazed to see how they take care of the snow here - including the little sidewalk plows they use in town as well as the machines that take all that snow off the tree lawn!

High 17/Low 0