Initial shaping of the aprons is complete. Final shaping will happen after assembly of the base to ensure the aprons are faired to the legs. So, it's on to gluing the loose tenons into the aprons. The clamp is probably overkill, but I do want to prevent the expanding polyurethane glue from pushing the tenons out. The loose tenons were a nice snug fit, but I prefer to leave nothing to chance.
Disappearing Act
Returning to these aprons from an earlier post. After kerfing the profile to rough it out, then removing the slices of waste between kerfs with a drawknife, I'm using planes and a spokeshave to do the final shaping. It's a straightforward process of making the saw kerfs disappear.
New Exhibition Opening
In last week's mail: a lovely invitation to the latest exhibit at the Messler Gallery at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship where one of my pieces will be on exhibit. The opening reception is this Friday. Be there (I won't, unfortunately). Wonderful work on the front cover by Kristin Levier. I can't wait to see it in person when I'm teaching up there later this summer
Roughing It With A Drawknife
After breaking off the thin strips of material left between kerfs, I use a drawknife to remove any remaining bits before moving on to hand planes.
Cooling Fins, or Cool Process
The cabinet I'm currently working on will hold media components (cable, DVD, stereo receiver, etc), so I thought I'd put some cooling fins on the aprons to dissipate heat generated by the components.
Just kidding. I'm kerfing the outside faces of the aprons to rough out their profile. As my tooling (and machinery) is fairly limited, this process works very well to waste away the bulk of the material on this profile.