Project Update: More Tools and a Trailer

I know, I know...I said I was going to jump onto making the bridge bending form, but I needed to finish up just a couple more things. I was nosing around on Craigslist last week, a uniformly bad idea for Yours Truly, when I discovered a tenoning jig and Delta mortising tool drill press attachment for sale. In Seattle. So, guess what I did most of the day on Saturday. Yep, I headed up to the environs of my favorite city (180 miles each way) and picked up both of them from Cool Craigslist Guy in Lynnwood, Washington. I saved about $150, so it was worth the trip.

The tenoning jig is in the top photo, the drill press mortising tool attachnment in the bottom. As you probably know, a mortise-and-tenon joint is a specific way of putting together, say, the legs of a table. The photo below is an excellent illustration of how this works.

What, then, is a tenoning jig and what is a drill press mortising tool attachment? Well, the tenoning jig allows one to awkwardly clamp a piece of wood and run it over the table saw blade in order to cut a tenon. The photo below is a better illustration of what I'm trying to describe.

And, of course, the mortising tool attachment mounts to a drill press and allows me to cut square holes.

Now, I am able to cut accurate mortises and tenons until the cows come home. Or the chickens come home to roost. Or both.

On a tangentially related note, I started what I knew would be the exacting and lengthy process of setting things up for hauling my own large cuts of wood. I knew it would be somewhat challenging, so I procrastinated as long as possible by citing the rains we had for months as mitigating weather circumstances. Well, the weather has taken a turn for the better and I can no longer make this claim. This means I started working on mounting the trailer hitch to my beloved KIA Soul and getting the trailer slapped together.

I started with the hitch and the help of my friend, neighbor and all-around good guy, Mike Crane, to mount the hitch and get the wiring installed correctly - something I sincerely believe I could not have accomplished without Mike's help. So, we did that on Friday night.

Thanks once again, Mike.

I then began the interesting task of assembling the trailer (yeah, purchased at Harder Fright).

I made quite a bit of progress through Sunday, but still have a ways to go before I can hit the road and no longer have to rely on the kindness of friends, family, and strangers to transport wood to my humble abode.

On a completely unrelated note, I picked up a safety shield for my delicate features while turning wood on the "new" lathe and also acquired a 55-pound anvil for upcoming work related to the instrument.

Safety first at Tortuga Early Instruments Worldwide Headquarters. And, in the interest of storage on my tiny shop while providing easy access, I put hooks on all of the lathe tools and hung them on complementary hooks installed into the lathe stand.

Yes, I will be getting back to the bridges any minute now - as soon as I finish up the trailer.

Until next time...