Thankfully, we didn’t take the winter storm hit that nailed the North East – one of the “advantages”of being mid-Atlantic, I guess. It was quite windy, especially over Friday night into Saturday morning, that much did swing south, but other than a bit of rain on Friday, there was no precipitation for us. All it takes is half an inch of snow to grind this place nearly to a halt.
I will take note that my 328i really does do well in the snow and ice. Earlier in the week, I was joking that I’d have a chance to see how much of a big, fat liar the marketing folks are, showing me commercials with BMWs slewing around on snow-covered areas appearing to be in fairly decent control… We did have some frozen stuff on the ground for the morning commute, in the early part of the week, and the traction control systems on the car are simply excellent.
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I made progress on the shelving, mostly, over the weekend. I also picked up a piece of poplar, ensuring it was straight and true. With that, I fabricated a sled to use for truing up rough-sawn stock, like the cherry 4/4 lumber I’m going to use for the surface of my “desk” table in the new office:
Ripping sled for rough lumber
At least one edge of most of the 4/4 lumber I have is raw edge, that is, the part of the tree from which bark is removed. The two main surfaces are nicely surfaced, and one edge is sort of straight. I screw through the two uprights on the sled (or with narrow stock, using a buffer scrap) to hold the piece stable. I run the sled through once, yielding a straight edge. I can then unmount the board from the sled, turn it over, and make the second side straight and parallel to the first edge. Now the board is ready for the jointer. Seven or eight of those, and I’ve got a desktop!
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Another week with no casualties announced by DoD! It doesn’t mean that we don’t have folks in harm’s way … but I’m grateful that we haven’t had any losses announced since 23 Jan! Thank you to every warrior out there – you do us all honor in the execution of your duty!
