Typical January Progress

which is to say... 'Not much'. The winter holidays are over except for the credit card bills and I made some efforts (mostly mental) towards accomplishing something.

I purchased the wood last week that will become the galley countertop; maple. I had hopes of cutting it with the bandsaw but three inches into the first cut made it clear that plan was faulty. Even with my (relatively) thick ripping blade the cut was too wavy and the idea of sanding out the hard maple made me stop and re-consider.

The backup plan was to coerce a friend into cutting up the wood for me. Unfortunately, my friends seem to have caught on to my methods and they were unusually scarce last weekend.

I was going to try extra hard and find one this weekend but the single digit winter temperatures dissuaded me. Instead I spent the weekend researching table saws. Money is tight, especially after the holidays, but ramping up the interior work without a table saw has also had its challenges. Doing all my ripping with a skilsaw to any decent standard is annoyingly time consuming and painful to say the least. I am zeroing in on a contractor saw from Rigid mn 4512 (Home Depot) or the same saw with the Craftsman colors painted on it for about $500. Its not a super saw but its not complete junk either and I don't think I will throw tantrums every time I try and use it. 'Good Enough' is about all I can hope for right now. The $3000 cabinet saw will have to wait another year or so. I would have pulled the trigger on the purchase already except I am hoping to find a deal and the low temperatures and my unheated garage means I wasn't going to assemble it this weekend anyway.

Maybe next week.

I hope I don't continue to say that too often this year...

Jenny herself is looking snug and safe and other than a few small chafes on the tarp there is nothing to be worried about there.

Stay warm :-)