working on first commissioned piece

Been thinking about this more. I think the board that is most bowed and has the bit of rough still has some end checking at the other end, so I'm gonna replace the board.

Mark, a bowed board will bend a table top. Best to keep it out of your work.

OK. Boards and life have been slapping me around. The first replacement board I picked had some more really pretty quartersawn grain. Then I promptly messed it up while jointing - one side went down to 15 mm thick before I realized it (all the other pieces are 18.5 mm thick right now). The next piece I ripped the pith out of, properly jointed and then right before firing up the planer noticed that there was a through structural defect that I wasn't willing to live with (a cross grain crack, about 4" wide).

Then last weekend we had an issue with our lateral sewer drain. <grumble mumble> two basket ball volumes of maple roots in the pipe <grumble mumble>

After getting that resolved, I went to the wood pile again and decided to spend a little time each day throughout the week breaking in my new-to-me #6 fore plane. Sent it through the thicknesser and it is at the same thickness as the other boards. Sadly, one face still has some rough showing from the inside of the cup. I'm making the executive decision to put that face on the bottom and move on with the project. I'll give that area a little TLC with the random orbital sander so it will take finish uniformly.

Taking a break to stop sweating before moving on to the glue up. Pics later, I promise!

i will be waitun to see the clamps in place mark

Got it laid out on the bottom half of the cauls. It is 54" long - right now I only have 4 clamps suited for its width. I'm going to go see if I can find two more long clamps at Big Lots.

Also, the piece I milled today seems to be a little thicker than the rest. I'll use my time at Big Lots to think about whether I want to slice a little more off before the glue up or just give it a little extra TLC with the ROS at 80 grit after the glue dries.

well mark , in my opinion, your better off to have your pieces all pretty much the same thickness at glue up and also on the thick side to begin with. that way when the clamps come off and you begin the final prep ,, your are working on all of it with the same process rather than here and there to get close then hit with the final process..

Here's the deal - on one edge, there was a little thickness difference, but on the other edge, it matched the previously milled piece on the other side. Anyway, I'm already under the thickness I wanted, so I'll just liberally use the ROS as needed or maybe take it to be thickness sanded.

It is glued now.





I wonder how my wife is going get through the 3" space between the 60" clamp that I needed to use and the bandsaw (black arrow).

She'll probably just tell me to limbo myself down to get the laundry.