Veneering Done!

Well after I got the tirade of the last post off my chest, things started to proceed rather smoothly.

The veneer press / compressor actually worked well in the end, other than tending to leak oil. And, ready for this now, I got all five shelves veneered! The first two I did not use enough glue so I had to touch those up afterwards (= more work), but once I got the hang of it it worked very well. It really feels like a big accomplishment and I can sense the end of the project is at hand. I really need to focus and drive to get this thing completed.

I need to trim the sapele nosings for the shelves, fit and glue them, then do a final clean up of the shelves and apply the finish. I think I'll just do a couple light coats of shellac and then wax.Oh yeah, still have to do the consoles. Sigh.

I also managed in all the excitement to get a day of milling in, picked up a couple small logs of spalted maple. I still have not stored away the alder and horse chestnut I got last time, my storage space crisis is acute. Maybe they'll just have to lean against the garage all summer!

The longer log cracked as I sawed it, quite a lot of internal stress no doubt. Perhaps I should give this wood away to Nick, he is the master of taming unstable wood!

 Against my better judgement I am considering taking some cedar slabs that have been drying for a year and a  half and putting them in the kiln. This is for the simple reason that it would create some space in my lumber pile. I'd really prefer to wait until they have dried over one more summer (dry season here) before doing that though. In my experience cedar is the most forgiving of putting it in the kiln a bit wet. I checked it with my moisture meter the other day, it is at 15%, I'd probably see 12% by the end of the summer.