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?