A Rough Timeline

A much needed Christmas break...but missing the feeling of wood in my hands. Dr. Huminski agrees that we are on or slightly ahead of schedule. I have looked at the weekends between now and the end of March. Right now, I am planning to work every weekend except for Martin Luther King weekend. The average work session will last 3 hours, but they could range from 2 to 5 hours. I plan to work for another 35 to 45 hours on the desk. There are also times when I can work with him on Wednesdays if needed. I will be sorry for the Christmas break to end, but can look forward to working more on the desk.

Learning As I Go

We now have the assignment to create a detailed timeline for completing our project. To do this, I looked back at the timeline that I included in  my proposal. I am pleased to say that I am ahead of this timeline. I did not put in as many hours as I thought I would have, but I have completed more of the desk than I predicted. This is partly because I started building my desk the second time I met with Dr. Huminski in his workshop. Instead of first learning basic carpentry skills and then building the desk, I have learned these skills as I work. At first, Dr. Huminski had to be more involved in the building process, watching me closely. Now that the I have learned and practiced the basic skills, he can tell me to do a process and I work on it alone and ask questions if i need to.

Wood-withdrawal

The week we thought would never come has arrived. We will be handing over our research papers tomorrow and giving them up to red pens and scrutinizing eyes. Honestly, it will just be a relief to have this paper out of my hands. It has been looming for a whole semester and I look forward to having it behind me.
I did not work with Dr. Huminski last weekend and we will not be meeting again until January. I guess I was suffering from wood-withdrawal because this past weekend I decided to work with wood. I simply went into our basement and cut, sanded, and carved pieces of scrap wood. Most of what I attempted ended in failure, but it was still nice to have saw dust on my clothes again.

Hibernation

Due to the busy time that we are entering and the Christmas holidays, Dr. Huminski and I will be taking a break from woodworking until January. This will give me a chance to devote more time this weekend to revising my research paper. We have made considerable progress this semester and have laid the foundations for next semester. The frame or carcass is almost complete and it is starting to actually look like a desk. I have spent over 20 hours so far working on the desk. There is still much to do, but as I became more familiar with the tools and procedures, I have been able to work faster. I am satisfied with where I am with my project right now.

The Puzzle

I worked again on Sunday with Dr. Huminski. It was the third weekend in a row that we had worked so we are on a role. The carcass of the desk is coming along very well. The back and front legs are complete and connected by side draw rails and front draw rails. This weekend, we will work on the backboards of the desk. Nothing has been glued yet because you have to wait until the end to do that. Building a piece of furniture really is like building a puzzle and at the end, all the pieces must fit.

TOOLS!

I spent 3 hours with Dr. Huminski on Sunday. We continued creating several mortise and tenon joints on the front and back legs of the desk. The front and side drawer rails were also cut and carved to attach to the legs.


Here is a diagram of the joint. The tenon is not a smaller piece of wood that has been simply stuck to the end of the larger piece of wood. Instead the tenon must be cut out of the wood. Therefore, a mortise and tenon joint cannot be created quickly. However, Dr. Huminski has the tools to make it simpler. During the 3 hour work session, I used 5 different types of saws:

Band Saw

Reciprocating Arm Saw

Edge Planer

Table Circular Saw

Miter Saw

My favorite is definitely the reciprocating arm saw. You basically glide the saw over the wood and it grazes a top layer of wood off. It looks so cool to me for some reason. Besides saws, we also use chisels which I am becoming more comfortable with. Also vital to a successful day of woodworking are pencils and rulers. Measurements must be exact or the puzzle will not fit.

A Week Without Research

It has been a week free of the research paper. For all those who are reading them right now, I am sorry for the headaches. We had a helpful discussion today in class about time management. There have been many of us feeling overloaded right now so it was good to talk and share ideas. Last weekend, I was out of town, but I am going back to the workshop to build on Sunday. I think we will continue with the mortise and tenon joints and maybe begin building the back legs. The pictures still will not upload onto the blog. Does anyone know the problem?