I had to do it.............I aimed high with my pistol..........and....... blew his fricken head off first shot!

Psycho Cardinal ....is no more!

Bar Rail Corners

With thin plywood templates from the bar, I layed out the three curved pieces that have to fit the corners of the bar rail. There's one tight turn and one long sweeping turn that I'll use two pieces to make.

Cutting out the sharpest curve at the band saw, making sure the cut is 90 degrees and as square as possible. Patience in cutting, lets the blade stay on course without wandering.

The very first, of many more cuts for this 2 1/2 inch thick piece of mahogany, before it is finished.

Stay tuned next week, maybe I'll show you how I turn this and the others into a beautiful, welcoming corner to a bar.

The Truth About Luca

As you can see, I'm just a stuffed animal from when they made stuffed animals to last. My name is "Doggy," and I want you to know the truth about Luca, Mic an' Bic's sweet Yellow Labrador Retriever girly dog.
It's easy to notice that my ears are gone, well, the first week we met (Luca and I), she tore my ears right off. I'm OK with that, they were my weakest stitched link. I've been doing fine without them for almost three years now . I feel I've held up pretty good, maybe it has to do with...... good bones, I guess I got them.

But what really pisses me off, is that she is merciless to my neck. She whips me, throws me around like a doll, thrashing me back and forth by the neck, looking mean as an Alaskan wolf. I know she enjoys it way too much.

Look at me.......I'm torn......and leaking......bodily fluff.

Don't trust her...........she's an animal!

Micky Moulding Maker Makes Do

Do you know what a feathering board is? Well, for this set-up I got them all over the place, five of them all working in unison to hold the working piece of wood in place, but yet let it flow through the rig so it comes out the left side being a nice custom piece of crown moulding.

Ain't that neat?

Well after a few short pieces, I set up for the long dogs and before I could get the whole 15 ft. piece through the rig, the switch gets hot and shuts down the router and vacuum. I let it cool and started back up and finished the piece no problem. The next long dogger, I went slower with the feed and again it shut down on me. So being the resourceful, witty, craftsman that I am, I shoved a fan in there and the third long dogger slipped past all them feathering boards without a hint of a shutdown.

Then it started raining like hell and the 15 ft. boards don't want to be stuck out in the rain before they become crown moulding. So here I sit creating this post for your enjoyment (or boredom) until the heavens above my shop dry out, here in East Tennessee.

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Just A Bit More This Time...........

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Nothing much...........

The Third Memorial Day

We hope you all have a great holiday weekend. Lately, it seems that we're not getting much done here around the house, but that's not true. This will be our third summer here since we first drove up this hill and saw a big brick house covered mostly by overgrown shrubs, trees and vines. There was no grass to speak of except a little sickly area right here in front at the V in the driveway. Everything to the right and the left was completly filled with grown trees and bushes so thick you couldn't walk into them.

So yesterday after cutting all the driveway edge, trimming with lopers, cutting the hillside to the left, and two truck loads of mulch, some sweeping and blowing of the driveway, I feel that we "are" getting a lot done. This time of year it shows most.

No Bar Rail - Mirrors - Cabinet Doors - Crown - Base - Stained Glass

Hey Cookie Rock....

You got the same shape as a bud of mine.

Hey Cookie Bud.......

Open your eyes.....................................

Your looking a little green around the edges.

And the answer is..................... pistacio nuts!

Nobody gets the squid.

Creative Clamping And Clusterf~ck

Now we got one big mother of a piece of wood.

After I tune this mother up, clean sand and rout to accept the bar rail, I'll temporarily bolt her down and get started making the most challenging pieces of the whole project, the curved bar rail. I'd love to have it on before the owner comes next weekend but we'll see. There's lots of do da clouding the job at this late date, mirrors, stone backsplash, glass shelves, hardware, ceiling fan, electric receptacles with proper cover plates and all the skeleton key hardware running through my mind. Oh, base board and crown moulding that still needs to be created and put on with of course all the cabinit doors need to be made along with panels to cover the fridge and icemaker while still having to mount backlighting for Bic's glass and finish cleaning up the frame for that glass, then of course mounting all the doors.................... It's not really a cloud blurring my mind.......it's a giant clusterfuck of thoughts.

Sicily Grows These.....

Win a box of fried squid. What are they?

Skip A Wake

This is the little cellar apartment I built some 18 years ago so my Aunt Grace could move into my mothers cellar. She passed away just a few years later. Then my mothers other sister moved into the cellar and she has now recently passed. Sad times for my mom. I got the call Saturday morning so I drove up and surprised my mom for Mothers day then spent most of my time cleaning this little apartment while chatting with my Aunts. The wake and funeral ended up being very late in the week and I felt I had communed my sorrow to her (and my mom) enough by spending all that time in her room (I had wonderful dreams). A few cousins and family will be disappointed (very slightly of course)in not seeing me at the wake and funeral, but I decided to get home and get on with my life. And my auntie Philis would be the first to say,"that's right". So if anyone has a problem with that....so what!

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!..........From A 2200 Mile Roadtrip

Rough Draft By Bic

Getting Beahtta

Oh yea, some of these pieces I cut and measured, more than five times.

The owner likes the one on the right (yea), a double bifold with tall skinny glass. And yes, the stone will wrap around under those doors.

Figure It Out....Where Am I Going To Cut

I only got two pieces for the counter and two for the arm rest trim on the outside, got to make it all work. I got plenty of arm rest, you can see the roughed out blank, up against the big piece to the left, and I got two wide pieces of the same thickness to get the radius at the corner done.

There it is all cut up, I'm committed now, to joint these all together and make a kickass bar top. I know it's tough to see, but it's going to work and I have plenty of material to make it all match (unless of course I totally fu%k it up). Hey! Measure 4 times cut once!

New Tool And Big (pieces of) Wood Go Together

Buying new expensive tools has been something that has always been tough for me, I'm cheap and I move around alot. My new double compound sliding bevel saw would not fit on any boat that I might own. But I sure do like where it is right now. It's a little heavy at 50 lbs and I was looking for an 8 1/2 inch model but couldn't find the quality I wanted. It'll just HAVE to do! ha

This morning I will make a judgment on if I have enough big (pieces of) wood to complete the bar top, it looks close at first glance. I'll be heading to my favorite wood stop, Jeffries Lumber later this week, IF IT EVER STOPS RAINING! No, I'll go anyways if I need some more big stock.

Big difference from a loon, but the customer is boss. They want to know if Bic can create their family crest in a stained glass. Could be tough, there are many different versions.

The Glass Loon

Both owners when asked what they might want to see in a stained glass oval said "whatever you think". Bic and I liked this loon pattern she found online, so she printed it out and we changed a few things. You can see all the lines whited out that we thought didn't need to be there.

First template of bar top. Needs a little tweaking. The plywood shape you see as a bar top ( it's the bright shape that dominates the picture) is a first mock-up of the actual wood bar top. I need to have a shape, and this is the last 2 hours of a day at work to look at "something" as to what the finished bar top will look like. Now to the left, under that template of plywood, (totally temp. for now) will be a leather textured granite counter, or, a place to make the drinks. There's going to also be in that piece of granite to the back left in the picture, at the drink making place, a 5 inch hole drilled through the granite so bottle caps and othe bar debris can just get shoveled into the hole......dropping into a trash barrel under the counter. To the right of picture you'll see a two level counter, the sink being lower and in the center, all granite. (duh) All the way back there at the end, under the bar top will be three granite shelves (I know, that seems weird) you can see the cleats, I don't love it, but I had to fill the space and the kid who was in charge of getting the stone got plenty so ........ he said "use it". Anywhere away from the sink the granite will be trimmed with mahogany after it is in place, so I can adhere the wood to the granite with a high tech adheasive, 5200. Oo la la!