I forgot to post yesterday. Anyway, as I was finishing the mortises for the table top, a big chunk broke out. I mean a really big chunk like 3 in x 2 in x 1.5 in. At least it was on the bottom/side and not the top where it would be most visible. But on the top there was another problem. Some smaller pieces broke off and others were lifted and ugly. I was heartbroken. Thankfully, Professor Takagi said we could glue the chunk and the small pieces on the top side, and there would be some things we could to make these flaws not so obvious.
So the next step after fitting the tenons of the legs into the table top mortises was to cut lap joints in the stretchers and legs so they would fit together. I quadruple measured and walked through the plan several times and still managed to cut them wrong. It was getting late, but Professor T. said that maybe the table saw blade would not be changed for a couple days. I thought it best to take my chances with the blade adjustment rather than wreck something else. I felt like a walking hazard. I was just overtired. I went home, showered and slept for 13 hours. It's amazing how much better a brain will function after a good night's sleep. Since I've been up late/early working on final projects for Commerical Design and Lighting Design, I definitely was a bit sleep-deprived.
On Thursday, Professor T. was holding extra shop hours, so I raced to get there and made the stupid mistake of driving through rush hour downtown D.C. to the shop rather than to the Mt. Vernon campus and taking the shuttle. It took me 1.5 hours to get there. I made it just as everyone was getting ready to leave. In about ten minutes I was able to reset the blade on the table saw by lining it up with some cuts that I had made on Wednesday. I still cut the second stretcher wrong, but I caught the mistake before I cut the whole thing and was able to recover. I even managed to cut the center stretcher.
Professor T. was kind enough to also open the shop on Sunday for a few hours. I was able to glue the stretches to the legs and still had time to use the band saw to cut out some shapes for my Lighting Design luminaire project. That was wonderful.
Tonight, Monday, I cut the wedges and glued the legs to the top and even glued the center stretcher. Sign of relief.
Then home and worked on my Commerical Design (CD) presentation board. Now my eyes are blurry and my head hurts, so I think it's time to say goodnight, and hope the dog doesn't bark before 7 AM.
sorry for the whining, if I can make it through the CD presentation on Thursday, life will be great. goodnight.
