Finished the crib for Brandi & Steven
We are back home from our Alaska 2013 trip ... because I was unable to actually make posts from the ship I have deleted the web log I started for that trip ...
Hard to believe it's been a year and a month since I last posted to this web log ... but it has ... turns out time flies whether you are having fun or not!
So ... Carolyn and I will be joining our travel buddies Woodie and Linda on yet another excursion ... this time 10 days aboard the Princess Grand round trip from San Francisco up into Alaska and the Tracy Arm Fjord and back ... then 4 or 5 days travel by car back home through Fresno, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Carlsbad ... and maybe a few others that are yet unplanned.
Retirement is great ...
You can follow the web log about this trip by going to this link Alaska 2013 Web Log
.
Well ... we are once again going to join our good friends Woodie and Linda on an adventure to foreign lands ... this time ... GERMANY!!.
As in the past I intend ... (he said) ... to keep a journal of our travel as a web log ... I have started that log at this link => Germany 2012 Web Log. If you'd like to follow along just use the "Subscribe Submit" button near the top left of the home page, enter and verify your email address and you'll receive email updates as I make them.
We are looking forward to the trip and hope you'll come along...
The current "shop project" is a mission style queens sized bed for Carolyn. This bed will go in "Brandi's room" and will replace a full sized bed that was Carolyn's when she was a girl at her parents home.
Carolyn has been on me for several years asking for a mission style bed (headboard and footboard) and that project finally bubbled to the top of the pile.
I went to a small lumber mill in Huntsville, Texas and purchased a little over 120 board feed of rough quarter sawn red oak ... the grain in this wood looked like it could be pretty spectacular ...
After several hours of cutting I had the "pieces parts" roughly cut to length ...
 |
| From QueenMissionBed |
I could see that the grain was looking pretty good
 |
| From QueenMissionBed |
After several hours of plaining and cutting to final sizes I was able to dry assemble the beginnings of the foot board ... getting all those square holes to line up with the square pegs was no small trick ...
 |
| From QueenMissionBed |
Making the legs for this bead was a real challenge ... I used what is called a lock miter joint cut on my router table ... it took 128 passes total to cut the joints for all four legs ...
 |
| From QueenMissionBed |
These are pics of the headboard and footboard all pieced together and dry fit ... final sanding and finish and glue is next
 |
| From QueenMissionBed |
 |
| From QueenMissionBed |
 |
| From QueenMissionBed |
Hope to be done before Halloween ...
Since we have been frequenting antique auctions I have been on the lookout for a "cheval mirror" to go in Zoey's room ... I finally found one for a pretty cheap price that LOOKED like it had potential ... sadly I can't locate the "before" pictures I am sure I took but basically the mirror frame was stained almost black and it was mounted on a white pine wood very sad looking frame. The good part was the glass is beveled and the price was right (no one wanted to bid on it and I got it for a good price).
The pictures here-in show just a couple of shots of the frame as I started to build it and then the finished product ... the frame wood is from the same stash I used to build Zoey's crib. I removed the old finish from the mirror and discovered this was not a "cheval mirror" to begin with but rather a wall hung mirror someone had cobbled up and stuck in a floor standing frame ... oh well ... I'm pretty pleased with the end result and I hope Zoey enjoys it as she matures into the "fashionista" I am sure she will become.
The beginnings of the frame:
 |
| From Antiques |
The finished product:
 |
| From Antiques |
I added some butterfly ornaments
 |
| From Antiques |
 |
| From Antiques |