Gallery Wall in Shop & the Gate Leg Table

It has been a snowy weekend in the mountains, but that's to be expected during the winter in Colorado.

I have "had to" even plow twice...but it is more fun then work running the plow. Remember, I said this if I start to complain about plowing when we are up here full time.

Dusty the dog always gets a good run when plowing in that he tries to bit the plow blade. I am hoping that as he gets older he slows down and stops chasing it...although with more practice he may catch the plow some day.

Be careful what you wish for dog.

BTW, that little peak in the background above the barn roof is called Samson's ( the next one to the east is Delilah) and is ~9200' MSL.


Let me get to what I promised in the last post. Here are a couple of shots of the developing shop/gallery.

Derek seemed a little hesitant when I mentioned the shop as a storage facility for his sculptures once he moves them out of the studios when he graduates from Western.

He mentioned that they are being prices to sell, during his show the end of March.

The posters/pictures do add a little more character to the space...as if it needed it.

Wait until the phone booth/bathroom is put in this summer for some character.

On the top of the bench you can see the gate leg table starting to take shape. At that point I was dry fitting everything to make sure it worked.

Drilling the hole for the wood hinge and pin turned out to be less problematic then I actually thought, but fitting the swing out section took some finagling so that it cleared the apron the stationary portion is attached too.

Here it is glued up and with a first coat of stain/poly. I used the Minwax PolyShade product and as far as Oak is concerned I am sold on it.

For the second coat I wet sanded it after application, but before it set up. The surface is baby-behind smooth.

There will be at least one more coat before I am finished.

Setting the hinges into the bottom of the top surface showed off my lack of chisel technique. It took me a while but the hinge mortises are just right, and luckily when installed the chisel marks underneath will be hidden.

The edge also has had the same round over used on the folding join. Re-setting up the router to match the joint had me going through a few pieces of scrap to get it right. I did this on the plastic router table I picked up at Menard's a few years back for ~$25. It works like a $25 table too, but it was better then using the trim router and bearing.

Next weekend we are moving everything up to PR so there will be no fun time, but after that the projects will focus on getting the Truck Camper ready for the shakedown trip to Texas to visit Tom and Joy and Inks Lake State Park.