The Next Chapter...

…and just in time as I say farewell to Liberty Mutual officially.

Stopped by the office to drop off my laptop, badge and corporate card…farewell Mother Liberty!

On Monday it was all about fitting and tuning parts, especially sides to legs, and more milling of pieces we will use later like drawer parts. I love that you can get so much precision, and need to for easier work down the road in joinery, fit, glue-up, etc., when working with this project.

This day was also my last official day at Liberty Mutual. So on the way in to class, I stopped by and dropped off laptop and badge. It was definitely bitter sweet, and I will miss all the great people, but I know I will keep up with many through this blog, and other more direct communications.

Drop by the local for a toast to Liberty on my last day with few classmates…look at the warm welcome we are receiving as we walk up. A bit rough around the edges, but the beer is cold and fresh! 🙂

To celebrate the milestone of being officially retired, I took a few folks out for a couple of beers after class which was a lot of fun. We found a little pub across the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and it was a lot of fun!

Let The Next Chapter in Life begin!!

Case with primary joinery completed, and legs yet to be tapered.

Tuesday was back to milling, with a big step being tapering the legs of the nightstand. The key is to get all your joinery complete and tight, and ensure it is all fitting well, because once you taper the legs, you no longer are working with square and true parts there and so you want to make sure you are ready.

The legs are now tapered, and look much better and really adds a lot to the balance of the piece.

Today was also about doing our final mill for the drawer parts, which is more involved that I could have imagined. In order to get a good fit, and a drawer that fits well, doesn’t move around in the opening, and works smoothly requires you to make sure you mill everything to pretty tight tolerances. This is not just the drawer parts, but the internal parts that ensure a square and true opening for the drawer as well. And the stakes grew as we prepared for the next day our first glue-up day!

And now it gets real people! With glue, comes real consequence. And it is clamped to ensure it is square and aligned, because when out of square here, fitting a drawer next would be a nightmare.

Wednesday was glue day! This is an exciting milestone, because really is about a non-reversible action. Well, actually if you use hide glue, you can reverse it, but more on that another time. We spent a few hours learning about all the different glue types, and when you use certain ones for various applications and how long you have to actually do the glue-up before you run out of time and it sets on you faster than you thought. 🙁

BEFORE: Drawer front with drawer bottom rabbet, and perfectly sized to just fit in the case opening.

On Thursday I did the rest of the glue up for the internal parts that form the square box for the drawer to slide it…and be careful not to get sloppy with glue, will just mean awkward clean-up in a tight space later…don’t ask me how I know! 🙂

And getting the dimensions and fit for the guides and runners really is a complicated step that no one sees, but you will know if I get it wrong. The balance of the day was spent taking some considerable time final milling on drawer parts. This is where we have the opportunity to correct for any small out of square issues and make sure the front, sides and back are precise fits as boards before the dovetail cutting begins. Said another way, you get these pieces of wood cut and milled to precision, then you start cutting your joinery.

AFTER: Cut my half-blind dovetails in drawer front (almost done, needs a bit more clean up obviously).

The first bit of joinery is cutting the half-blind dovetails in the front, and then everything else is cut from there, thus you leave your drawer sides long in case you need to cut the dovetails in them again, because remember the height is to a precise dimension, the drawer bottom cut in a very specific place, but the length is open in case you need it. (Spoiler Alert: I will need the extra length next week!)

Friday was a surprise sick day as Covid struck our instructor and we kicked into the protocol which was very thorough. I was impressed with how the school handled it and communicated, well done! So on this “snow day” I took the time to think about the future. I am thinking more about doing the full-time Cabinet and Furniture Making program, which is something I always thought of as more a dream than reality, but I am giving it serious consideration. More updates to come as I give it serious consideration…

Dateline: NBSS Three-Month Furniture Intensive, Oct 3-7 (Week 4)