HOME STRETCH

OK..I'm closing in on the home stretch on the crib...

I now have the cap on the footboard. If you look closely on either end, you can probably see the plugs sticking up where the countersunk screws are (it is glued along the middle and screwed & glued on the ends). I just need to flush trim those, clean up some glue squeeze out, do a final sanding, and the footboard and headboard will both be done, apart from staining/finishing.

Below is the drawing I created to help me cut parts to the right size for the sides. This is way different from the way the plans want you to make the sides, but I think this will look better, and still be strong. All those years of mechanical drafting come in handy for woodworking design. The vertical slats are mortised into the top and bottom rails. It took awhile to cut all those mortises, since it was required close to 200 holes drilled adjacent to each other, and then I had to clean each one up and size it for the rails using chisels. That is rewarding work, but a little tedious.


This is what the sides will look like. I have to glue them, which will definitely be difficult, since I have to get all those things to line up, and make some fairly large pipe clamps work, within about a 7 minute window before the glue starts setting. So I will save that for tomorrow. But this gives you an idea of how they will look:


Man. I am slow. I have probably spent 50 hours on this project so far. But, part of the time was making jigs I needed. Below is a 90° jig for my drill press. I needed this for the successive holes in the side rail mortises. I was happy because it came out exactly 90°, or at least close enough that my measuring tools couldn't detect that it was off. Once I get a big bandsaw (14"), I can also use this for resawing wider pieces, but it is too big for my current bandsaw.


Another jig I made was a jointer fence for my table saw. Actually, I made two--one that takes off 1/8", and one that takes off 1/16". The way they work is that they attach to the regular rip fence (via square head bolts that go into the slot on the stock fence), and then you slide the unit to where the blade fits in the circular cutout in the melamine. The pieces that fit behind the blade (on the bottom in this picture), are even with the blade, so that the stock gets trimmed exactly 1/16" or 1/8" by passing it by this. It works better on smaller stock that is easier to manage, not as well on large stock. But, all in all, they work surprisingly well. They are not my design--I got them out of a cool book I bought right after I got my table saw. It's not as good as a jointer, but it will get me by until I'm ready to sink $500-700 into a nice jointer. I also have a plan in my head for a jointer sled for my planer. I'll let you know how that works out.



So what remains is to sand a few pieces on the side panels, glue up the side panels, do a final sanding & glue cleanup on everything, drill some bolt holes for fastening it together, and finishing. It's within reach now--in fact, I could get most everything but the finishing done tomorrow, if I focus on it. It will be a relief to have this done. It's been fun, but I am ready to start on a new project. I also have decided that I don't like working under deadlines.

-m