Cannikin:
It all starts with a sketch. Tom and I worked on the design and size in Google Sketchup, saving the file to GitHub for easy sharing
Cannikin:
Starting out with raw lumber. Hardwood is generally measured in quarter inches, so these 8/4 (pronounced "eight-quarter") boards are 2" thick.
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Cutting the boards down to size the old fashioned way
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We end up with four boards that are a couple inches longer than the final size
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To the jointer to flatten one side of the boards
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Then to the planer to flatten the other side
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Now flatten an edge and make it 90° to the faces
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And finally to the table saw to final width
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Trying a couple different layouts of the four boards
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Another possibility
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To get ready to glue the boards together we need to make sure each edge is flat to its neighbor
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A nice pile of shavings
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If the edge is still square then the face of the boards will still be flat
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Ready for glueup
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And get a nice uniform spread
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Alternating the clamps to minimize any warping if they aren't square
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The clamps come off after an hour or two
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After another pass through the planer the glue residue is gone and the two boards are seemless
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For the octocat inlay I started with two pieces of pear wood veneer
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The octocat's head is dyed black maple and birds-eye maple
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Legs are attached
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Octocat complete - but backwards! This is actually the glue side, the other is covered with veneer tape
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After routing a very shallow circle for the veneer the design is glued and clamped into place
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Now the two halves of the top can be glued together
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The ends are trimmed to length
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Holes drilled and routed for the two beer towers
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Edges rounded over at 1/8" radius
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Ready for the drip trays
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Here's where both trays will go
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Jig for keeping the router steady will routing out the finger catches
