Dinosauers, Dovetails and Dados

Yesterday we went to Lindsay's house to give Owen his "good luck" gift as he starts kindergarten this week.  We bought his a triceratops bank that we thought he would enjoy.  He put his money in the bank which now sits in his bedroom.  We think he is really going to enjoy "regular" school.

Owen and "Dino" the bank.

Today started well with Rick and I in the garage cutting dovetail joints on the slide-outs that he had cut to length yesterday.  He would cut the dovetails while I sanded the ragged edges smooth and took time out to sweep up the mountains of sawdust that dovetails create.

I am happy that Rick gets to use some of the woodworking equipment that has sat idle for so long.  He finished all of the slide-outs for the tall cabinet in the laundry room by 9:00 a.m.

From there he tried to cut the dados in the slide-outs to accept the bottom boards.  As he did the first one, I could hear that the bit was having a hard time getting through the wood.

"Did you just see smoke?" asked Rick.  I had not, but when he tried to cut further in the wood, I certainly saw it wafting up from the router table.

"Is your router burning out, or is that smoke from burning wood?" I asked.  He replied that the router was fine, but the 1/4 inch router bit was too old, too dull, and too small to cut the dado all in one pass.  So we had two choices: he could adjust the table to cut the dados in two or three smaller passes, or we could quit for today until we could get to the store to purchase a new, sharp, 1/2 router bit that would complete the job in one smooth pass.  We decided that since today was a holiday, we would quit.

The wood for the base cabinet slide-outs rest in front of them.
We will finish building those later this week.

Yes, we could have changed gears and cut the rest of the wood for the five drawers that we need to build, but after working seven days a week for the past couple of months, we both deserve time off.  Tomorrow will come soon enough.

Soon the tall cabinet will have slide-out shelves.

The washer and dryer are working well.  I love not having to go
downstairs to complete this task!

The room really is starting to take shape.  We want to get the drawers and slide-outs mounted before Alise comes to measure for the doors, but then we are done until the doors are made and are ready to be mounted.

We have plenty of room for the looms.

I am starting to look at patterns and yarn again as I gaze at the empty looms.  I want to weave again before the weather changes to fall.  Hopefully our efforts will pay off, and we soon will be able to enjoy our new room.