Day: September 10, 2026

If you’ve been following along since Tuesday, I’m making a Cherry wood storage unit to go behind my couch, which we can put beverages on, and store front door type stuff in, and also keep the dogs bed underneath so that I can eliminate the gigantic 24x36x48 inch crate that sits in our hallway. I had bought Cherry to make a desk, but the front entrance is more pressing a matter right this minute. So I am adjusting course and building more storage instead.

Now I originally thought I had bought all my boards at 8ft long by 12 inches wide, but that was not the reality. I fought the idea of doing some pretty extensive glue ups, but I have since given in because I want 11.5 inch wide panels to make the whole thing, so now we are in the midst of a multi stage glue up because I do not own enough clamps to do five at once, three of which are at least 67 inches long. That takes a whole lot of clamps. While I’d love to have enough to do so, I have nowhere to keep fifty extra 24-48″ clamps (or longer). Space is at a premium in my garage shop.

Funnily enough when I don’t have items in clamps the shop feels spacious (at least to me), but the second I have to glue anything the space shrinks like a reverse Tardis. Then I find I have to walk the long way around everything in order to get from one side of a panel to the other. Most unprofessional! Ha.

I am now realizing that I cut my “final” lengths far too soon, so I can foresee this unit being slightly shorter than 34 inches tall, and potentially a hair less than 68 inches long. No matter, as 68″ was the absolute maximum length that I had available, so a slight reduction won’t matter. I’m the client, and I’m building the damn thing, so nah-nah!

Once all five panels are glued, and clamped then I will begin the process of scraping off the glue squeeze out. That can sometimes go smoothly. Unlikely given how things have gone this far. Then I will rip them all down to the correct width of board. And then begin the process of planning the thickness down to where it all matches. Cross cut on the table saw sled to get my final_final lengths. And I can then work on cutting my box joints, and routering out some channels for the shelves to sit inside. Use my dado stack to cut shoulders on the ends of my shelves. Round over my corners and edges, sand, assemble and add a finish. Bish-bash-bosh! Done like dinner.

Follow along to see what other stupid mistakes I make while wood working in-between paid gigs. Have a laugh on me. The best part is when I get upset I can split wood before hand to smash out my anger and frustrations before I even begin. It’s all coming together man. Just you wait and see.

It may not look like much but after just two and one half hours I have managed to find my groove. I shall not lie, I was glad for yesterday’s rain delay because my back and shoulder muscles were really feeling that first day back. The trick here is not to rush, be safe, and save some for tomorrow! It’s not an all day thing, this is a mornings after a walk at the farm activity. I can only operate in September and October for the most part. Who knows maybe the super El Nino will make it reasonable to split into late November with a jacket on. It usually rains so much that I’d be afraid to lose control of the axe mid wind up, or on the follow through. Not a fun thought.

So with two visits and a bunch of wood split I am satisfied with myself. I have started my cherry wood furniture build, and my Dungeons & Lasers package arrived yesterday and I built three of the loose model kits in bags. I have enough models to build and paint all winter long. The cold weather indoor activities are locked in!

I am still a little miffed that I didn’t ride my bike, longboard, roller blades or toss a ball around to break in my new baseball glove. Oh well. Can’t have it all now can we. We’d have nothing left to strive for if we did. I could always throw the ball around by myself in the driveway like when I was a kid. Probably best to not throw my shoulder out while I adjust to swinging an axe again. Smart thinking!

Maybe when I get home I’ll start cutting down my boards for a warm weather glue up session. Sounds like a fine idea to me. Best of luck on this breezy Thursday.