“I keep warning you. Doors and corners, kid. That’s where they get you. Humans are too fucking stupid to listen.” — Miller, Abaddon’s Gate, The Expanse.
So I’m rereading the series in anticipation of the final book due out around now and the final season of the TV adaptation slated for December. And that quote stuck in my mind. You get to spend a lot of time in your head while working through a project like this. There are 70 mortise and tenon joints in total. Yes, the mortises are all machine or router cut and the tenons are roughed out on the table saw, but the fitting is all by hand. And 70 mortise is a LOT of corners.
The slats alone are 46 of them (23 slats) and 22 of those have 1″x1″cut-outs (doors). “Doors and corners…” Fitting the tenons has been a lunchtime project, an hour here and there. Now in the home stretch on that part.
Then it’s finishing. Yes, before assembly. There are so many surfaces here getting a film finish to not turn into a runny mess would be impossible (for me). The right side assembly is all finished already and I like the look. The rest will probably start the process this weekend: stain followed by 3 coats of shellac. It’s getting harder to find but I love it. It dries so fast, the first coat basically on contact. And it’s so easy to fix issues, more shellac or alcohol readily dissolves the old coat or run or whatever. Very easy to blend it out.
This also delays the scary glue up phase. There are a LOT of joints. And it would be really great if the whole thing came out square. I now have the room to do this (barely) unlike the bed project which had to be assembled on the deck. But, still…