Day 50: Back to the Future

I was able to get the fourth coat of satin onto the sharps last night. They're drying up nicely and looking pretty good--I can't wait to get that part of the process completed. In the meantime, I continued working on the key tops for the naturals. I have an admission: I've never worked with cuts as small as the ones required for the laminates. It seems that every time I try to cut them using the table or band saws, I cannot get a perfectly true 90-degree cut. So, here's my solution:

I was pacing around the shop being more than a little frustrated when I had a Tim the Tool Man moment. I swung around and spied the miter kit and thought, "Hey, wait a minute. Not only have I used a mitre box to get nice square cuts in the past, that's how they must have done it in the Good Old Days." I gave it a shot and, voila!, perfectly cut laminates. The first cuts were for depth (front to back) at 1 3/8"; you can see them in the photo below.

I then flipped them around and cut them all at 1" width. They will eventually all be trimmed for width by laying each key upside down on a key top and drawing a cut line from underneath that I will sand to for final width. For now, they're all cut at 1 3/8" x 1" and they're all perfectly square.

I guess they knew what they were doing 600 or so years ago.  Lesson learned...again.

Until next time...