Temp 96° F. Dew Point 82° F. Cool, Huh?

Not so cool. The shop fan is a life saver. Although it's cooler in my basement shop than it is outside, it's still hot. A dew point of 82° F. is more of a don't do point for me. Somehow I keep things moving along on the Jeffersonian Book Stand, albeit at a reduced pace.

The last bit of shaping on the stretchers and legs for the base.

It's fun putting these bevels on the legs.

As you may recall from a previous post, I deliberately oriented the end grain on the top of the legs at 45°. This is so that no matter what angle I choose for the bevel on the legs, I will still get the same result, that is, that the lines of grain on the sides follow the outer corner of the leg. I like it when a plan comes together.

Then there's the bevel on the stretchers. That's my new Lie-Nielsen low angle smoothing plane resting on the bench . Today, I have it set up with a special plane iron that has a steeper bevel angle to mimic the 45° angle of a standard smoothing plane. It's really doing a nice job on this yellow birch. And whether the dew point is 82, or 28, this sweet plane will stay flat and true to its purpose. I love the wooden planes in my tool collection, but it's not easy keeping up with the crazy, intense fluctuations in humidity we've been having this year.

The more critical planing task is removing all the marks left by the machines on the joinery faces of the legs. Any slip-ups and the angle will go wrong. I relax and take is slowly, with the thinnest shavings I can muster.

After softening the edges... so important for the comfort of the people who will be handling this piece... I applied four light coats of orange shellac followed by two light coats of beeswax polish.

The moment of truth. Here is the second stage glue-up of the base. I'm using a stick to check the squareness of the base while it is under pressure from the clamps. Notice the glue-up is being done on the table saw surface. This is the flattest place in my shop. We don't want a wobbly book stand!

Stay cool, wherever you are!

Hej då!

Craig