Working Road Trip

We hit the road to Cassie's last weekend.  Truck so full of treasures from Peep's that the rest of us had to ride in the van.  I had my licensed driver riding shot gun...because you know well...I only have my temps.  Up bright and early on Saturday morning to build the Oakes a farmhouse table and bench for their dining room.

 

We all have been watching videos and talking to woodworkers to get an idea of what we want to do.  Well, what Cassie wants I should say.  She sees a farmhouse table in her head and we have to try to duplicate it.  I know where she gets it and I know how she feels about this table.  It needs to be our best work and turn out awesome.

 

This place is amazing!  I love the owner...he's about 8 feet tall and a real mountain man looking kind of guy that you know loves his job and loves to see people get excited about what he does.  What he does is take down old barns!  I could have stayed here all day long!  I hope to go back next trip to Cassie's because I saw some really nice barn wood and beams and pillars and windows, and doors and gates and.....

This is just one corner of one side of his lumber yard.

Measure twice, cut once.  And with the price of these pieces of 100 year old barn wood I think we measured three times.

We got up bright and early and started.  It must have been about 10 degrees out and windy.  We even saw some flakes!  And about 7:30AM!

Mark had Cassie label each board so we wouldn't get mixed up.  Good thing!  Because we are a mixed up bunch.  Probably one of the smartest things we did all day!

Trevor getting a lesson on the Kreg Jig...Mark's newest play toy.  And is it ever the coolest thing!

 

Cassie and Trevor drilling holes in the first board.

 

Before screwing the boards together, Cassie added a little bit of wood glue to one edge of the board to be attached.

All boards attached.  Now cutting the ends off.

You might laugh at us but we used a quilting rule to make sure everything was level and square.

This shot is for my dad...Cassie using one of his flat pencils and sticking it behind her ear.  That where all the Meadow's do it!

Look at that straight line and look at that circular saw work...right on the money!

We measured, measured, and measured!  Each one of us took turns to make sure we had it just right.

Using that quilting rules to square up the other side.

Perfect!

Pappy's apprentice.

Ellis actually wanted someone to shoot some hoops with him.  I went down and let Pappy finish what he was doing and get Cassie and Trevor on to the next thing.  When he was finished he came down to shoot with Ellis so I could go to the house to get warm!  Ellis beat me in a game of horse H O R S to H.

Not the finished product by far but this is what it will look like sort of eventually.  Love the U shaped legs.  You see our little mouse sander...ha!  Not even going to work out.

Trevor had to go rent a belt sander.  A big, old, powerful belt sander.

We got smart after freezing our hineys off for hours.  The boys brought the fire pit to the driveway.  We sent Trevor after firewood.  He came back with wet wood from the side of the road.  We burnt all the scraps in the garage and all the twigs and wet wood we had.  It felt to awesome.  Cassie and I at one point were bundled up with nothing but our faces exposed sitting in the chairs and telling ourselves that we were on Spring Breask somewhere warm!

Cassie taking a run with the belt sander.

We thought we were so good.  Well, when we lifted the 800 pound table top up to turn it over to sand. it was a little wonky.  Meaning it wasn't as tight as we thought it should be.  Partly because we really have no clue what we are doing.  Kind of trial and error.  Extra braces was what Keith Ellis would have ordered.  So that's just what we did with some really nice pieces of nice strong oak.

There was a little math involved in the correct placement of three 1x2 boards that were in a space of 17 inches.  We had to call in the Calvary (Michael) to help us do the math.  Who needs a calculator when you have Michael with you!

 

Braces in and the table is as sturdy as can be.  We all were satisfied with our work so on to more sanding.

Alaire came out to see what we had been doing all morning.  Trevor 'Huckleberry Finned' here into sanding a bit.

She didn't last too long.

Satisfied that the tabletop was as smooth as a baby behind, Cassie said it was time to add the stain.

This has definitely turned out to be a family project...young and old had a hand in construction and finishing.

Trevor was in charge of the bench seat.  See the live edge?  That means...in wood working terms...somebody left some of the bark on the outside edge of a board.  Love it!

More stain work on the table.

And more stain work.

 

You might be asking where Emmy was when all of this measuring, cutting, sanding and staining was happening.  She was at the grocery store and then she was cooking.  She made some hot soups for lunch and a huge taco salad for all of us for dinner.

Cassie noticed that some of the cracks weren't filled.  There are cracks because the boards Cassie was looking for the real raw farmhouse look.  She wanted all those little imperfections to show up...the nail holes, the places the worms had eaten, the bug holes, the saw marks and the beautiful grains in the wood.

This morning we went out after church to put on the glaze.  But under Mark's huge spot light we saw lots of little places and between the cracks where they had not been touched by the stain.  So with small paint brushes (sorry Trevor) we covered each of them.  Or tried to cover each of them.  I had trouble with the small holes that just would not fill.

I gave my paintbrush and rag to Ellis and Michael to see if they could do a better job than I was doing.  They didn't last too long.

We had to leave to come home so Cassie and Trevor have a to do list to get this table finished.  I know tonight they finished sanding the bench...and they might have gotten another coat of stain on.  Hopefully tomorrow they can get the first coating of glaze on.  Then Tuesday get it sanded and another coat applied.  I'm thinking by Wednesday they may be having dinner on their new table.  They promise to send pics.