Prep
We Started Our Project The Night Before...
Objectives
... Discussing The Objectives And Design Concepts.
Paperwork
I Made Some Scale Sketches So I'd Recall What We Discussed.
The Shop
Leon's Shop is Larger Than My First Home - 1,200 sq ft!
Half Century
He's Got an Enormous Collection of Tools and Supplies That He's Collected Over 50+ Years.
Stock
The Majority of the Lumber He Uses Comes From The Trees Removed From The Family Farm.
Stocked
If We Needed It, Leon Had It.
Organization
He Never Had Trouble Remembering Where Something Should Be Stored, Just Sometimes It Had Been Moved.
Supervision
He Supervised Much of My Work From This Chair.
Route
We Headed to the Shop After Breakfast Every Day And Remained There Until Between 6:00 and 8:00 PM Every Evening (Except Sunday).
Apprenticeship
I've Had Very Little Shop Experience So Leon Taught By Doing.
Table Saw
I Learned How to Safely Use a Table Saw...
Joiner
... a Joiner,...
Planer
... a Planer, ...
Tool List
... a Radial Arm Saw, a Shaper, a Circular Saw and a Number of Other Power Hand Tools.
Verticals
On The First Day We Built The Vertical Pieces For the First Frame.
Surprising
I Think Leon Was Surprised How Long It Took.
Molding
On the 2nd Day We Started Creating The Pieces That Would Be Molded on the Frames.
Glue Lovers
I Never Realized How Much Glue Was Involved in Woodworking and Discovered That Leon Has Well Over 200 Clamps.
Scope Creep
We Decided to Create the Parts For 2 Frames.
Dimples
This is When I Learned That The Clamps Dimple The Wood!
Care
I Was More Careful After Seeing the "Damage" the Next Day.
Repeat
We Duplicated the Work From Day #1 for the 2nd Frame.
Suppertime
Time For Supper. Leon Has Been a Vegetarian Since the End of WWII.
Safety Incident
Leon Waited Until Day #2 to Inform Me That the Dust From Black Walnut is Hazardous! We Generated LOTS of It!
Bedding
My Friend Marcus Had Given Me Some Black Walnut for the Project But It Wasn't Enough, So...
Restock
... We Took the Truck to the Farm to Restock Leon's Supply.
Survey Team
Leon & Sam (Anita's Daddy) Survey The Inventory.
Hidden
This Cherry Was Stacked on the Black Walnut So We Moved It Aside.
Just Right
These Pieces Will Do Just Fine!
Rear Entry
We Backed The Truck Up to the Storage Building And...
Loading
... Loaded It Up.
Tractor Lot
Anita's Parents Have a Few Tractors!
Diversity
Big Ones, Small Ones, Old Ones and New Ones!
R&R
Leon Takes a Rest, While...
Inspector
... Sam Surveys The Load.
Springy
It Was a Beautiful Spring Day.
Dogwoods
The Dogwoods Were in Bloom.
Memory Test
Notice Something Different From Previous Years?
Shaded
They Added an Awning Over the Steps.
Farewell
Time to Pack It Up and Get Back to the Shop.
Back at It
Now We Had Enough Wood to Create the Bottom Portion of the Frames.
Stretch Goal
We Stretched Leon's Clamp Supply, and...
A Few More
... Had to Glue a Few of Them the Next Day.
Thick
These Pieces Are Thick!
Growth
The Pile of Shavings From The Planar is Growing.
Kitty One
I Visited Anita's Aunt Regina That Evening After Dinner.
Poser
She Has a Dog, And...
Kitty Two
... Two Kitties.
Farmer Leon
Leon and Regina Planted a Garden Before I Arrived. Leon Was Out Fertilizing the Next Morning.
Fault Finding
Our Design Began to Fall Apart on Day #4. We Realized the Frame Was Too Wide for the Shaper, Requiring...
Strategy Revision
... Us to Make These Parts Separate and Glue Them to the Base (i.e. the Output of Day #2 Was Scrap).
Design Flaw
We Also Realized That We Had Not Provided a Robust Design Solution for the Glass.
Creativity
Fortunately, Both Issues Allowed Us to Get Creative Using ...
Resolution
... This Approach! The Shaped Top Was Split in Two And Glued to the Base With an Overhang For The Glass.
Our Secret
Once It's Glued, Filled and Stained, No One Will Know But Us (Can You Keep Our Secret?).
Outcome
Here's the Results of Our Efforts.
Learning
Notice the Scrap Strips Under the Clamps to Protect the Work?
Workout
The Shaper Got a Workout, And...
Runout
... We Ran Out of Clamps!
Higher
The Day Finished on a High Note.
Sizing
Time to Begin Cutting the Frame Pieces to Size.
Grieving
The Pieces Were Too Big for the Jig And Our "Solution" Ended Up Causes Us a World of Grief.
Classtime
True to Form, Leon Teaches by Doing.
Lengthy
We Made Our Pieces Long Enough So We Had No Issues.
Visual
Here's The Concept (Without the Center Brace For the 2nd Column of Proof Coin Sets).
Unfit
Our "Solution" For Cutting the Miter on the Table Saw Resulted in a Terrible Fit. We Ended The Day Without Assembling Either Frame.
Checkup
Anita's Mom Louise Visited to Check On Us.
Happy One
Leon Was Happy to See Her.
My Turn
Louise Took Some Pictures of Me Working.
Testing
This Way You Can See That I Learned Something, and...
Partnership
... I Didn't Make Leon Do ALL The Work!
Transition
I Think He's Ready For...
Groupers
... a Group Photo.
Mounting
The Mounting Solution is One Used For Hanging Cabinets.
Weighty
The Frames Are Heavy Even Without the Coins.
Duplicate
The 2nd Frame Fit Better Than the First So We Built It.
Filler
What Do You Think? We Had to Fill Some Gaps, But...
Deserve It
... As My Dad Used to Say "If You Look That Close You Deserve to See Something!"
Deeper
The Base is Deeper Than Required, But...
Great Solution
... They'll Serve Their Purpose Nicely.
Comparison
Can You Tell The First From the Second?
Promise
Bye Leon, I'll Be Back to Finish Them. View the Spring Break Photos of My Spring Break in Jacksonville With Mia and Anna.